They are used to compute a single value from a set of attribute values of a column:
count :
how many rows(tuples) are stored in the relation
EMP
select count(*) from EMP;
how many different job title are stored in the relation EMP
select count(distinct job)
from EMP;
max & min:
select min(SAL),max(SAL) from EMP
select max(SAL)-
min(SAL) from EMP
sum:
select
sum(SAL) from EMP
avg: