8. Simple SQL Exercises¶
Using the nyc_census_blocks
table, answer the following questions (don’t peek at the answers!).
Here is some helpful information to get started. Recall from the About Our Data section our nyc_census_blocks
table definition.
blkid |
A 15-digit code that uniquely identifies every census block. (“360050001009000”) |
popn_total |
Total number of people in the census block |
popn_white |
Number of people self-identifying as “white” in the block |
popn_black |
Number of people self-identifying as “black” in the block |
popn_nativ |
Number of people self-identifying as “native american” in the block |
popn_asian |
Number of people self-identifying as “asias” in the block |
popn_other |
Number of people self-identifying with other categories in the block |
hous_total |
Number of housing units in the block |
hous_own |
Number of owner-occupied housing units in the block |
hous_rent |
Number of renter-occupied housing units in the block |
boroname |
Name of the New York borough. Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens |
geom |
Polygon boundary of the block |
And, here are some common SQL aggregation functions you might find useful:
avg() - the average (mean) of the values in a set of records
sum() - the sum of the values in a set of records
count() - the number of records in a set of records
Now the questions:
How many records are in the nyc_streets table?
SELECT Count(*) FROM nyc_streets;
19091
How many streets in NYC start with ‘B’?
SELECT Count(*) FROM nyc_streets WHERE name LIKE 'B%';
1282
What is the population of the City of New York?
SELECT Sum(popn_total) AS population FROM nyc_census_blocks;
8175032
Note
What is this
AS
? You can give a table or a column another name by using an alias. Aliases can make queries easier to both write and to read. So instead of our outputted column name assum
we write it AS the more readablepopulation
.What is the population of the Bronx?
SELECT Sum(popn_total) AS population FROM nyc_census_blocks WHERE boroname = 'The Bronx';
1385108
How many “neighborhoods” are in each borough?
SELECT boroname, count(*) FROM nyc_neighborhoods GROUP BY boroname;
boroname | count ---------------+------- Queens | 30 Brooklyn | 23 Staten Island | 24 The Bronx | 24 Manhattan | 28
For each borough, what percentage of the population is white?
SELECT boroname, 100.0 * Sum(popn_white)/Sum(popn_total) AS white_pct FROM nyc_census_blocks GROUP BY boroname;
boroname | white_pct ---------------+------------------ Brooklyn | 42.8011737932687 Manhattan | 57.4493039480463 The Bronx | 27.9037446899448 Queens | 39.722077394591 Staten Island | 72.8942034860154
8.1. Function List¶
avg(expression): PostgreSQL aggregate function that returns the average value of a numeric column.
count(expression): PostgreSQL aggregate function that returns the number of records in a set of records.
sum(expression): PostgreSQL aggregate function that returns the sum of records in a set of records.