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Encyclopedia of Database Systems pp 1Cite as

Absolute Time

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Definition

A temporal database contains time-referenced, or timestamped, facts. A time reference in such a database is absolute if its value is independent of the context, including the current time, now.

Key Points

An example is “Mary’s salary was raised on March 30, 2007.” The fact here is that Mary’s salary was raised. The absolute time reference is March 30, 2007, which is a time instant at the granularity of day.

Another example is “Mary’s monthly salary was $15,000 from January 1, 2006 to November 30, 2007.” In this example, the absolute time reference is the time period [January 1, 2006–November 30, 2007].

Absolute time can be contrasted with relative time.

Cross-References

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Recommended Reading

  1. Bettini C, Dyreson CE, Evans WS, Snodgrass RT, Wang XS. The glossary of time granularity concepts. In: Jajodia S, Etzion O, Sripada S, editors. Temporal databases: research and practice. LNCS, vol. 1399. Berlin: Springer; 1998, p. 406–413.

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  2. Jensen CS, Dyreson CE, editors. The consensus glossary of temporal database concepts – February 1998 version. In: Etzion O, Jajodia S, Sripada S, editors. Temporal databases: research and practice. LNCS, vol. 1399. Berlin: Springer; 1998. p. 367–405.

    Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aalborg University, Selma Lagerlöfs Vej 300, DK-9220, Aalborg Øst, Denmark

    Christian S. Jensen

  2. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Richard T. Snodgrass

Authors
  1. Christian S. Jensen
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  2. Richard T. Snodgrass
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christian S. Jensen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Ling Liu

  2. University of Waterloo School of Computer Science, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    M. Tamer Özsu

Section Editor information

  1. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Richard T. Snodgrass

  2. Aalborg University, Selma Lagerlöfs Vej 300, DK-9220, Aalborg Øst, Denmark

    Christian S. Jensen Ph.D.

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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Jensen, C.S., Snodgrass, R.T. (2016). Absolute Time. In: Liu, L., Özsu, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Database Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_1407-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7993-3_1407-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-7993-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Computer SciencesReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

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