Improving SQL with generalized quantifiers

A generalized quantifier is a particular kind of operator on sets. Coming under increasing attention recently by linguists and logicians, they correspond to many useful natural language phrases, including phrases like: three, Chamberlin's three, more than three, fewer than three, at most three, all but three, no more than three, not more than half the, at least two and not more than three, no student's, most male and all female, etc. Reasoning about quantifiers is a source of recurring problems for most SQL users, and leads to both confusion and incorrect expression of queries. By adopting a more modern and natural model of quantification these problems can be alleviated. We show how generalized quantifiers can be used to improve the SQL interface.<>