CSC 602 - Assignment 4
CSC 602 - Assignment 4
Assignment #4
P. 129, #1
Define each of the following terms:
Entity type – a group of objects that share the same properties and behaviors
Entity-relationship model – a graphical/logical depiction of the data for a business
or area of a business
Entity instance – a single representation of an entity type
Attribute – the nouns that a business uses in its course of operations. Examples of
attributes are: Customer_Name, Item_Description, etc.
Relation type - a relevant association between entity types
Identifier – A unique ID for an entity. A primary key in database terms.
Multivalued attribute – an attribute that may have more than one value for a given
entity
Associative entity – an entity type that links one or more entity types and contains
data that is not exactly related to another entity instance.
Cardinality constraint – the number of instances an entity can or must be associated
with another entity.
Weak entity – an entity that is dependent on another entity for its existence.
Identifying relationship – the relation between a weak entity type and its owner
Derived attribute - a value that is computed from existing data
Business rule – a statement that defines or constrains some aspect(s) of the
application logic.
P. 130, #3
Contrast the following terms:
Stored attribute; derived attribute
A stored attribute is data that is already stored in a database whereas a derived
attribute is computed from existing stored attributes.
P. 130, #7
State the six general guidelines for naming data objects in a data model.
1. Relate to business, not technical characteristics
2. Be meaningful
3. Be unique
4. Be readable
5. Be composed of words taken from an approved list
6. Be repeatable
P. 130, #14
Give an example of each of the following, other than described in this chapter.
a. Ternary relationship
Is part of TEAM
TEAM
CAPTAIN
P. 130, #20
Explain the distinction between entity type and entity instance.
An entity type is a group of entities that share the same properties and behaviors; an
entity instance is a single occurrence of an entity type.
P. 131, #3
There is a bulleted list associated with Figure 3-22 that describes the entities and their
relationships in Pine Valley Furniture. For each of the ten points in the list, identify the
subset of Figure 3-22 described by that point.
Employee Project
PK EmployeeId PK ProjectId
Name ProjectName
Address StartDate
BirthDate FK1 EmployeeId
BillingRate
P. 131, #4b
A university has a large number of courses in its catalog. Attributes of COURSE include
Course_Number (identifier), Course_Name, and Units. Each course may have one or
more different courses as prerequisites or may have no prerequisites. Similarly, a
particular course may be a prerequisite for any number of courses or may not be
prerequisite for any other course. Provide a good definition of COURSE. Why is your
definition a good one?
CourseName PrerequisiteForCourseNumber
Units
Prerequisite