How to explain why this type of databases is called relational?

A relational database is called so because the data is organized in the form of tables (relations). Each table consists of rows and columns, where rows are records and columns are attributes of these records.

The main idea is that data is linked through relations, which are expressed using keys (such as primary and foreign keys). This allows for efficient storage and linking of information, ensuring integrity and ease of querying.

Example: a "Students" table and a "Courses" table are linked through a "Course Enrollments" table, which stores the relations between students and courses.