Writing a Mathematical Formula in SQL? - sql

Question

I have these tables: users, comments, ratings, and items
I would like to know if it is possible to write SQL query that basically does this:
user_id is in each table. I'd like a SQL query to count each occurrence in each table (except users of course). BUT, I want some tables to carry more weight than the others. Then I want to tally up a "score".
Here is an example:
user_id 5 occurs...
2 times in items;
5 times in comments;
11 times in ratings.
I want a formula/point system that totals something like this:
items 2 x 5 = 10;
comments 5 x 1 = 5;
ratings 11 x .5 = 5.5
TOTAL 21.5
This is what I have so far.....
SELECT u.users
COUNT(*) r.user_id
COUNT(*) c.user_id
COUNT(*) i.user_id
FROM users as u
JOIN COMMENTS as c
ON u.user_id = c_user_id
JOIN RATINGS as r
ON r.user_id = u.user_id
JOIN ITEMS as i
i.user_id = u.user_id
WHERE
????
GROUP BY u.user_id
ORDER by total DESC
I am not sure how to do the mathematical formula portion (if possible). Or how to tally up a total.
Final Code based on John Woo's Answer!
$sql = mysql_query("
SELECT u.username,
(a.totalCount * 5) +
(b.totalCount) +
(c.totalCount * .2) totalScore
FROM users u
LEFT JOIN
(
SELECT user_id, COUNT(user_id) totalCount
FROM items
GROUP BY user_id
) a ON a.user_id= u.user_id
LEFT JOIN
(
SELECT user_id, COUNT(user_id) totalCount
FROM comments
GROUP BY user_id
) b ON b.user_id= u.user_id
LEFT JOIN
(
SELECT user_id, COUNT(user_id) totalCount
FROM ratings
GROUP BY user_id
) c ON c.user_id = u.user_id
ORDER BY totalScore DESC LIMIT 10;");

Answer 1

Maybe this can help you,
SELECT u.user_ID,
(a.totalCount * 5) +
(b.totalCount) +
(c.totalCount * .2) totalScore
FROM users u LEFT JOIN
(
SELECT user_ID, COUNT(user_ID) totalCount
FROM items
GROUP BY user_ID
) a ON a.user_ID = u.user_ID
LEFT JOIN
(
SELECT user_ID, COUNT(user_ID) totalCount
FROM comments
GROUP BY user_ID
) b ON b.user_ID = u.user_ID
LEFT JOIN
(
SELECT user_ID, COUNT(user_ID) totalCount
FROM ratings
GROUP BY user_ID
) c ON c.user_ID = u.user_ID
ORDER BY totalScore DESC
but based on yur query above,thismay also work
SELECT u.users
(COUNT(*) * .5) +
COUNT(*) +
(COUNT(*) * 2) totalcore
FROM users as u
LEFT JOIN COMMENTS as c
ON u.user_id = c_user_id
LEFT JOIN RATINGS as r
ON r.user_id = u.user_id
LEFT JOIN ITEMS as i
ON i.user_id = u.user_id
GROUP BY u.user_id
ORDER by totalcore DESC
The only difference is by using LEFT JOIN. You will not use INNER JOIN in this situation because there are chances that user_id is not guaranteed to exists on every table.
Hope this makes sense

Answer 2

Here's an alternative approach:
SELECT
u.user_id,
SUM(s.weight) AS totalScore
FROM users u
LEFT JOIN (
SELECT user_id, 5.0 AS weight
FROM items
UNION ALL
SELECT user_id, 1.0
FROM comments
UNION ALL
SELECT user_id, 0.5
FROM ratings
) s
ON u.user_id = s.user_id
GROUP BY
u.user_id
I.e. for every occurrence of every user in every table, a row with a specific weight is produced. The UNIONed set of weights is then joined to the users table for subsequent grouping and aggregating.