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in

Module 4
Normalization
Each relation schema consists of a number of attributes, and the relational database schema consists of a
number of relation schemas. There are two levels at which we can discuss the "goodness" of relation
schemas:
a) Logical (or conceptual) level:
 It discusses how users interpret the relation schemas and the meaning of their attributes.
 Having good relation schemas at this level enables users to understand clearly the meaning of the data
in the relations, and hence to formulate their queries correctly.
 At this level we are interested in schemas of both base relations and views (virtual relations).

b) Implementation (or storage) level:

 It discusses how the tuples in a base relation are stored and updated.
 This level applies only to schemas of base relations-which will be physically stored as files.

Database design may be performed using two approaches:

 Bottom-up design methodology (also called design by synthesis) :
 This approach considers the basic relationships among individual attributes as the starting point and
uses those to construct relation schemas.
 This approach is not very popular in practice because it suffers from the problem of having to collect a
large number of binary relationships among attributes as the starting point.

 Top-down design methodology (also called design by analysis) :

 This approach starts with a number of groupings of attributes into relations that exist together
naturally.
 The relations are then analyzed individually and collectively, leading to further decomposition until
all desirable properties are met.

4.1 INFORMAL DESIGN GUIDELINES FOR RELATION SCHEMAS:

There are four informal measures of quality for relation schema design:
i) Semantics of the attributes
ii) Reducing the redundant values in tuples
iii) Reducing the null values in tuples
iv) Disallowing the possibility of generating spurious tuples

4.1.1 Semantics of the Relation Attributes:

 Whenever we group attributes to form a relation schema, we assume that attributes belonging to one
relation have certain real-world meaning and a proper interpretation associated with them.
 This meaning, or semantics, specifies how to interpret the attribute values stored in a tuple of the
relation-in other words, how the attribute values in a tuple relate to one another.
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 To illustrate this, consider Figure 4.1, a simplified version of the COMPANY relational database
schema and Figure 4.2, which presents an example of populated relation states of this schema.
 The meaning of the EMPLOYEE relation schema is quite simple: Each tuple represents an employee,
with values for the employee's name (ENAMEl. social security number (SSN), birth date (BDATE),
and address (ADDRESS), and the number of the department that the employee works for
(DNUMBER). The DNUMBER attribute is a foreign key that represents an implicit relationship
between EMPLOYEE and DEPARTMENT.
 The semantics of the DEPARTMENT and PROJECT schemas are also straightforward: Each
DEPARTMENT tuple represents a department entity, and each PROJECT tuple represents a project
entity. The attribute DMGRSSN of DEPARTMENT relates a department to the employee who is its
manager, while DNUM of PROJECT relates a project to its controlling department; both are foreign
key attributes. The ease with which the meaning of a relation's attributes can be explained is an
informal measure of how well the relation is designed.
 Each tuple in DEPT_LOCATIONS gives a department number (DNUMBER) and one of the locations
of the department (DLOCATION). Each tuple in WORKS_ON gives an employee social security
number (SSN), the project number of one of the projects that the employee works on (PNUMBER),
and the number of hours per week that the employee works on that project (HOURS).

FIGURE 4.1: A simplified COMPANY relational database schema.

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FIGURE 4.2
Example database state for the relational database schema of Figure 6.1.

We can thus formulate the following informal design guideline:

GUIDELINE 1: Design a relation schema so that it is easy to explain its meaning. Do not combine
attributes from multiple entity types and relationship types into a single relation.

Examples of violating Guideline 1: The relation schemas in Figures 4.3a and 4.3b also have clear
semantics. A tuple in the EMP_DEPT relation schema of Figure 4.3a represents a single employee but
includes additional information-namely, the name (DNAME) of the department for which the employee
works and the social security number (DMGRSSN) of the department manager. For the EMP_PROJ

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relation of Figure 4.3b, each tuple relates an employee to a project but also includes the employee name
(ENAME), project name (PNAME), and project location (PLOCATION).

FIGURE 4.3 Two relation schemas suffering from update anomalies.

4.1.2 Redundant Information in Tuples and Update Anomalies:

 One goal of schema design is to minimize the storage space used by the base relations (and hence the
corresponding files).
 Grouping attributes into relation schemas has a significant effect on storage space. For example,
compare the space used by the two base relations EMPLOYEE and DEPARTMENT in Figure 4.2
with that for an EMP_DEPT base relation in Figure 4.4, which is the result of applying the NATURAL
JOIN operation to EMPLOYEE and DEPARTMENT.
In EMP_DEPT, the attribute values pertaining to a particular department (DNUMBER, DNAME, and
DMGRSSN) are repeated for every employee who works for that department.

FIGURE 6.4 Example states for EMP_DEPT and EMP_PROJ resulting from applying NATURAL JOIN to the relations
in Figure 4.2.
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 The various update anomalies in non normalized database (DB) can be classified into
a) Insertion anomalies
b) Deletion anomalies
c) Modification anomalies.
a) Insertion Anomalies: Insertion anomalies can be differentiated into two types, illustrated by the
following examples based on the EMP_DEPT relation.
1st type of Insertion Anomaly:

 To insert a new employee tuple into EMP_DEPT, we must include either all the attribute values for
the department that the employee works for, or nulls (if the employee does not work for a
department as yet).
 For example, to insert a new tuple for an employee who works in department number 5, we must
enter the attribute values of department 5 correctly so that they are consistent with values for
department 5 in other tuples in EMP_DEPT.
 In the design of Figure 4.2, we do not have to worry about this consistency problem because we
enter only the department number in the employee tuple; all other attribute values of department 5
are recorded only once in the database, as a single tuple in the DEPARTMENT relation.

2nd type of Insertion Anomaly:

 It is difficult to insert a new department that has no employees as yet in the EMP_DEPT relation.
The only way to do this is to place null values in the attributes for employee.
 This causes a problem because SSN is the primary key of EMP_DEPT, and each tuple is supposed to
represent an employee entity-not a department entity.
 This problem does not occur in the design of Figure 4.2, because a department is entered in the
DEPARTMENT relation whether or not any employees work for it, and whenever an employee is
assigned to that department, a corresponding tuple is inserted in EMPLOYEE.

b) Deletion Anomalies: The problem of deletion anomalies is related to the second insertion anomaly
situation discussed earlier.
 If we delete from EMP_DEPT an employee tuple that happens to represent the last employee
working for a particular department, the information concerning that department is lost from the
database.
 This problem does not occur in the database of Figure 4.2 because DEPARTMENT tuples are stored
separately.

c) Modification Anomalies:
 In EMP_DEPT, if we change the value of one of the attributes of a particular department-say, the
manager of department 5-we must update the tuples of all employees who work in that department;
otherwise, the database will become inconsistent.

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 If we fail to update some tuples, the same department will be shown to have two different values for
manager in different employee tuples, which would be wrong.
Based on the preceding three anomalies, we can state the guideline that follows:
GUIDELINE 2: Design the base relation schemas so that no insertion, deletion, or modification
anomalies are present in the relations. If any anomalies are present, note them clearly and make sure
that the programs that update the database will operate correctly.

4.1.3 Null Values in Tuples:

 If many of the attributes do not apply to all tuples in the relation, we end up with many nulls in those
tuples.
 This can waste space at the storage level and may also lead to problems with understanding the
meaning of the attributes and with specifying JOIN operations at the logical level.
 Another problem with nulls is how to account for them when aggregate operations such as COUNT or
SUM are applied.

 Moreover, nulls can have multiple interpretations, such as the following:

a) The attribute does not apply to this tuple.
b) The attribute value for this tuple is unknown.
c) The value is known but absent; that is, it has not been recorded yet.

We may have another guideline to deal with NULL values as follows:

GUIDELINE 3: As far as possible, avoid placing attributes in a base relation whose values may
frequently be null. If nulls are unavoidable, make sure that they apply in exceptional cases only and
do not apply to a majority of tuples in the relation.

4.1.4 Generation of Spurious Tuples:

 Consider the two relation schemas EMP_LOCS and EMP_PROJ1 in Figure 4.5a, which are
decomposed from EMP_PROJ relation of Figure 4.3b.
 Figure 4.5b shows relation states of EMP_LOCS and EMP_PROJ1 corresponding to the EMP_PROJ
relation of Figure 4.4.

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FIGURE 4.5 Particularly poor design for the EMP_PROJ relation of Figure 4.3b. (a) The two relation schemas
EMP_LOCS and EMP_PROJ1. (b) The result of projecting the extension of EMP_PROJ from Figure 4.4 onto
the relations EMP_LOCS and EMP_PROJI.

 If we attempt a NATURAL JOIN operation on EMP_PROJ1 and EMP_LOCS, the result produces
many more tuples than the original set of tuples in EMP_PROJ. In Figure 4.6, the result of applying the
join to only the tuples above the dotted lines in Figure 4.5b is shown.

FIGURE 4.6: Result of applying NATURAL JOIN to the tuples above the dotted lines in EMP_PROJ1 and
EMP_LOCS of Figure 6.5. Generated spurious tuples are marked by asterisks.
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 Additional tuples in the Figure 4.6 that were not in EMP_PROJ (Figure 4.4) are called spurious
tuples because they represent spurious or wrong information that is not valid.
We can now informally state another design guideline as follows:
GUIDELINE 4 : Design relation schemas so that they can be joined with equality conditions on attributes
that are either primary keys or foreign keys in a way that guarantees that no spurious tuples are generated.

4.2 FUNCTIONAL DEPENDENCIES:

4.2.1 Definition of Functional Dependency:
Definition: A functional dependency denoted by, X Y between two sets of attributes X and Y that are
subsets of R specifies a constraint on the possible tuples that can form a relation state ‘r’ of ‘R’. The
constraint is that, for any two tuples ‘t1’ and ‘t2’ in ‘r’ that have t1[X] = t2[X], they must also have
t1[Y] = t2[Y].
 This means that the values of the ‘Y’ component of a tuple in ‘r’ depend on, or are determined by, the
values of the ‘X’ component; alternatively, the values of the ‘X’ component of a tuple uniquely (or
functionally) determine the values of the Y component.
 We also say that there is a functional dependency from X to Y, or that Y is functionally dependent on X.
Ex: VehicleId State (By knowing the vehicle id it is possible to determine the state that vehicle
belongs to).
 The abbreviation for functional dependency is FD or f.d.
 The set of attributes X is called the left-hand side of the FD, and Y is called the right- hand side.
 Thus, ‘X’ functionally determines ‘Y’ in a relation schema ‘R’ if, and only if, whenever two tuples of
r(R) agree on their X-value, they must necessarily agree on their Y-value.
 Consider the relation schema EMP_PROJ and EMP_DEPT given below. From the semantics of the
attributes, we know that the following functional dependencies should hold:

a. SSN → ENAME
b. PNUMBER → {PNAME, PLOCATION}
c. {SSN, PNUMBER} → HOURS
These functional dependencies specify that (a) the value of an employee's social security number
(SSN) uniquely determines the employee name (ENAME), (b) the value of a project's number
(PNUMBER) uniquely determines the project name (PNAME) and location (PLOCATION), and (c) a

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combination of SSN and PNUMBER values uniquely determines the number of hours the employee
currently works on the project per week (HOURS).

 Figure 6.3 introduces a diagrammatic notation for displaying FDs:

 Each FD is displayed as a horizontal line.
 The left-hand-side attributes of the FD are connected by vertical lines to the line representing the FD.
 The right-hand-side attributes are connected by arrows pointing toward the attributes.

4.2.2 Inference Rules for Functional Dependencies:

 We denote by F the set of functional dependencies that are specified on relation schema R.
 Usually, however, numerous other functional dependencies hold that satisfy the dependencies in F.
Those other dependencies can be inferred or deduced from the FDs in F.
 Therefore, formally it is useful to define a concept called closure that includes all possible
dependencies that can be inferred from the given set F.

Definition of closure : Formally, the set of all dependencies that include F as well as all dependencies that
can be inferred from F is called the closure of F; it is denoted by F+.

 For example, suppose that we specify the following set F of obvious functional dependencies on the
relation schema of EMP_DEPT:

F= {SSN → {ENAME, BDATE, ADDRESS, DNUMBER},

DNUMBER → {DNAME, DMGRSSN}}

Some of the additional functional dependencies that we can infer from F are the following:
SSN → {DNAME, DMGRSSN}
SSN → SSN
DNUMBER → DNAME

 A set of inference rules can be used to infer new dependencies from a given set of dependencies.

 We use the notation F |= X → Y to denote that the functional dependency X → Y is inferred from the
set of functional dependencies F.

4.2.2.1 INFERENCE RULES for functional dependencies:

a) IRI (reflexive rule):

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 The reflexive rule (IR1) states that a set of attributes always determines itself or any of its subsets,
which is obvious.
 Because IR l generates dependencies that are always true, such dependencies are called trivial.
 Formally, a functional dependency X Y is trivial if Y is a subset of X (X⸧ Y); otherwise, it is
nontrivial.
If X ⸧ Y, then X Y
Ex:- X={ SSN,FNAME,LNAME} , Y={ FNAME,LNAME}
Therefore {SSN, FNAME, LNAME} {FNAME, LNAME}

b) IR2 (augmentation rule):

 The augmentation rule (IR2) says that adding the same set of attributes to both the left- and right-
hand sides of a dependency results in another valid dependency.

{X Y} |= XZ YZ
Ex:- X= {SSN} , Y={ FNAME}
Therefore {SSN, LNAME} {FNAME, LNAME}

 IR3 (transitive rule):

 According to IR3, functional dependencies are transitive.
{X Y, Y Z}|= X Z
Ex:- X= {SSN}, Y={DNUMBER}, Z={DNAME}
Therefore {SSN} {DNAME}

 IR4 (decomposition, or projective, rule):

 The decomposition rule (IR4) says that we can remove attributes from the right-hand side of a
dependency;
 Applying this rule repeatedly can decompose the FD X {A1, A2, .... , An} into the set of
dependencies {X A1, X A2 , .... , X An}.

{X YZ} |= X Y
Ex:- X= {SSN}, Y= {FNAME}, Z={LNAME}
Therefore {SSN} {FNAME}
 IR5 (union, or additive, rule):
 The union rule (IRS) allows us to do the opposite; we can combine a set of dependencies {X A1),
X A2, .... , X An} into the single FD X {A1, A2, .... ,An}

X Y, X Z}|= X YZ
Ex:- X={SSN}, Y={FNAME}, Z={LNAME}
Therefore {SSN} {FNAME, LNAME}

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 IR6 (pseudotransitive rule):

{X Y, WY Z}|= WX Z
Ex:- X={SSN}, W={DNAME}, Y={DNAME}, Z={MGRSSN}
Therefore {DNAME, SSN} {MGRSSN}

4.2.2.2 PROOF OF INFERENCE RULES:

 Each of the inference rules can be proved from the definition of functional dependency, either by direct
proof or by contradiction.
 A proof by contradiction assumes that the rule does not hold and shows that this is not possible.

PROOF OF IR1:
Suppose that X Y and that two tuples t1 and t2 exist in some relation instance ‘r’ of ‘R’ such that t1 [X]
= t2 [X]. Then t1[Y] = t2[Y] because X Y; hence, X Y must hold in ‘r’.

PROOF OF IR2 (BY CONTRADICTION):

Assume that X Y holds in a relation instance ‘r’ of ‘R’ but that XZ YZ does not hold. Then there
must exist two tuples ‘t1’ and ‘t2’ in ‘r’ such that:
1. t1[X] = t2[X]
2. t1[Y] = t2[Y]
3. t1[XZ] = t2 [XZ]
4. t1[Y] ≠' t2[YZ].
This is not possible because from (1) and (3) we deduce (5) t1[Z] = t2 [Z], and from (2) and (5) we deduce
(6) t1 [YZ] = t2 [Y], contradicting (4).

PROOF OF IR3:
Assume that (1) X Yand (2) Y Z both hold in a relation ‘r’. Then for any two tuples ‘t1’ and ‘t2’ in
‘r’ such that t1[X] = t2 [X]. We must have (3) t1[Y] = t2[Y], from assumption (1); hence we must also
have (4) t1 [Z] = t2[Z], from (3) and assumption (2); hence X Z must hold in ‘r’.

PROOF OF IR4 (USING IRl THROUGH IR3):

1. X YZ (given).
2. YZ Y (using IRI and knowing that YZ Y).
3. X Y (using IR3 on 1 and 2).

PROOF OF IR5 (USING IRl THROUGH IR3):

1. X Y (given).
2. X Z (given).

3. X XY (using IR2on 1 by augmenting with X; notice that XX = X).

4. XY YZ (using IR2on 2 by augmenting with Y).
5. X YZ (using lR3 on 3 and 4).
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PROOF OF IR6 (USING IRl THROUGH IR3):

1. X Y (given).
2. WY Z (given).
3. WX WY (using IR2 on 1 by augmenting with W).
4. WX Z (using IR3 on 3 and 2).

 The set of dependencies F+, which we called the closure of F, can be determined from F by using only
inference rules IRI through IR3.
 Inference rules IR1 through IR3 are known as Armstrong's inference rules.
 A systematic way to determine these additional functional dependencies is:
First determine each set of attributes ‘X’ that appears as a left-hand side of some functional
dependency in F and then to determine the set of all attributes that are dependent on X.
Definition: For each attributes ‘X’ that appears as a left-hand side of some functional dependency in ‘F’,
we determine the set ‘X+’ of attributes that are functionally determined by ‘X’ based on ‘F’; here ‘X+’
is called the closure of X under F. Algorithm 4.1 can be used to calculate ‘X+’.

Algorithm 4.1: Determining X+, the Closure of X under F

X+ := X;
Repeat
oldX+ := X+;
for each functional dependency Y Z in F do
if X+ Y then X+ := X+ Ụ Z;
until (X+ = oldX+),
a) Algorithm 4.1 starts by setting X+ to all the attributes in X. By IR1, we know that all these
attributes are functionally dependent on X.
b) Using inference rules IR3 and IR4, we add attributes to X+, using each functional dependency in
F.
c) We keep going through all the dependencies in F (the repeat loop) until no more attributes are
added to X+ during a complete cycle (of the for loop) through the dependencies in F.
For example, consider the relation schema EMP_PROJ. From the semantics of the attributes, we
specify the following set F of functional dependencies that should hold on EMP_PROJ;

a. SSN → ENAME
b. PNUMBER → {PNAME, PLOCATION}
c. {SSN, PNUMBER} → HOURS
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Using Algorithm 4.1, we calculate the following closure sets with respect to F;
{SSN}+ = {SSN, ENAME}
{PNUMBER}+ = {PNUMBER, PNAME, PLOCATION}
{SSN, PNUMBER}+ = {SSN, PNUMBER, ENAME, PNAME, PLOCATION,
HOURS}

4.2.3 Equivalence of Sets of Functional Dependencies:

Definition: A set of functional dependencies F is said to cover another set of functional dependencies E if
every FD in E is also in F+; that is, if every dependency in E can be inferred from F; alternatively, we can
say that E is covered by F.
Definition: Two sets of functional dependencies E and F are equivalent if E+ = F+. Hence, equivalence
means that every FD in E can be inferred from F, and every FD in F can be inferred from E; that is, E is
equivalent to F if both the conditions E covers F and F covers E hold.

4.2.4 Minimal Sets of Functional Dependencies:

 A minimal cover of a set of functional dependencies E is a set of functional dependencies F that
satisfies the property that every dependency in E is in the closure F+ of F.
 This property is lost if any dependency from the set F is removed; F must have no redundancies in it, and
the dependencies in E are in a standard form.
 To satisfy these properties, we can formally define a set of functional dependencies F to be minimal if it
satisfies the following conditions:
a) Every dependency in F has a single attribute for its right-hand side.
b) We cannot replace any dependency X → A in F with a dependency Y → A, where Y is a proper
subset of X, and still have a set of dependencies that is equivalent to F.
c) We cannot remove any dependency from F and still have a set of dependencies that is equivalent to
F.
 A minimal cover of a set of functional dependencies E is a minimal set of dependencies F that is
equivalent to E. There can be several minimal covers for a set of functional dependencies.
 We can always find at least one minimal cover F for any set of dependencies E using Algorithm 4.2.

Algorithm 4.2: Finding a Minimal Cover F for a Set of Functional Dependencies E

1. Set F := E.
2. Replace each functional dependency X → {A1, A2, ..., An} in F by the n functional dependencies
X → A1, X → A2, ..., X → An.

3. For each functional dependency X → A in F

for each attribute B that is an element of X
if {{F - {X → A} } U {(X - {B}) → A} } is equivalent to F,
then replace X → A with (X - {B}) → A in F.
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4. For each remaining functional dependency X → A in F

if { F - {X → A} } is equivalent to F,
then remove X → A from F.

Example: Let the given set of FD’s be E:{B→ A, D→ A,AB→ D}. Find the minimal
cover of E.
Answer:
 All the above dependencies are in canonical form, so we have completed step 1 of the algorithm and
can proceed to step2. In step2 we need to determine if AB→D has any redundant attributes on the
left hand side; that is can it be replaced by B→D or A→D?
 Since B→A, by augmenting with B on both sides (IR2), we get BB→AB, or B→AB (i). However
AB→D as given (ii).
 Hence by the transitive rule (IR3), we get from (i) and (ii), B→D. Hence AB→D may be replaced by
B→D.
 Now we have a set E’= {B→ A, D→ A, B→ D}. No further reduction is possible in step 2 since all
FDs have a single attribute on the left hand side.
 In step 3 we look for a redundant FD in E’. By using the transitive rule on B→ D and D→ A, we
derive B→ A. hence B→ A is redundant in E’ and can be eliminated.
 Hence the minimum cover of E is { B→ D, D→ A }

4.3 NORMAL FORMS BASED ON PRIMARY KEYS:

Normalization is a process of analyzing the given relation schemas based on their Functional
Dependencies and primary keys to achieve the desirable properties of
(1) Minimizing redundancy and
(2) Minimizing the insertion, deletion, and update anomalies

4.3.1 Normalization of Relations:

 The normalization process, as first proposed by Codd (l972), takes a relation schema through a series
of tests to "certify" whether it satisfies a certain normal form.
 Codd proposed three normal forms: 1NF, 2NF, and 3NF.
 The process proceeds in a top-down fashion by evaluating each relation against the criteria for normal
forms and decomposing relations as necessary. It is also called as relational design by analysis.

 Thus, the normalization procedure provides database designers with the following:
i) A formal framework for analyzing relation schemas based on their keys and on the functional
dependencies among their attributes.
ii) A series of normal form tests that can be carried out on individual relation schemas so that the
relational database can be normalized to any desired degree.
 The normal form of a relation refers to the highest normal form condition that it meets, and hence
indicates the degree to which it has been normalized.
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 The process of normalization through decomposition must also confirm the existence of additional
properties that the relational schemas should possess. These would include two properties:
a) The lossless join or nonadditive join property: This guarantees that the spurious tuple generation
problem does not occur with respect to the relation schemas created after decomposition.
b) The dependency preservation property: This ensures that each functional dependency is
represented in some individual relation resulting after decomposition.

 The process of storing the join of higher normal form relations as a base relation-which is in a lower
normal form-is known as “denormalization”. This is sometimes done for some performance reasons.

Practical Use of Normal Forms

 Normalization is carried out in practice so that the resulting designs are of high quality and meet the
desirable properties stated previously.
 Database design as practiced in industry today pays particular attention to normalization only up to
3NF, BCNF, or at most 4NF.

4.3.2Definitions of Keys and Attributes Participating in Keys:

a) Definition: A superkey of a relation schema R = {A1, A2, ... , An} is a set of attributes S C R with the
property that no two tuples ‘t1’ and ‘t2’ in any legal relation state ‘r’ of ‘R’ will have t1[S] = t2[S].
b) Definition: A key ‘K’ is a superkey with the additional property that removal of any attribute from ‘K’
will cause ‘K’ not to be a superkey any more.
The difference between a key and a superkey is that a key has to be minimal; that is, if we have a key
K = {A1, A2, ... , Ak} of ‘R’, then K - {Ai} is not a key of ‘R’ for any Ai where 1 ≤ i ≤ k.
In the following figure, {SSN} is a key for EMPLOYEE, whereas {SSN}, {SSN, ENAME}, {SSN,
ENAME, BDATE}, and any set of attributes that includes SSN are all superkeys.

c) Definition: If a relation schema has more than one key, each is called a candidate key. One of the
candidate keys is arbitrarily designated to be the primary key, and the others are called secondary
keys. Each relation schema must have a primary key.
{SSN} is the only candidate key for EMPLOYEE, so it is also the primary key.
d) Definition: An attribute of relation schema R is called a prime attribute of R if it is a member of
some candidate key of R. An attribute is called nonprime if it is not a prime attribute-that is, if it is
not a member of any candidate key.
In the following figure, both SSN and PNUMBER are prime attributes of WORKS_ON, whereas other
attributes of WORKS_ON are nonprime.

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4.3.3 First Normal Form:

 First normal form (INF) is defined to disallow multivalued attributes, composite attributes, and their
combinations.
 1NF states that “the domain of an attribute must include only atomic (simple, indivisible) values and
that the value of any attribute in a tuple must be a single value from the domain of that attribute”.
 Consider the DEPARTMENT relation schema shown in Figure 6.7a, whose primary key is
DNUMBER, and suppose that we extend it by including the DLOCATIONS attribute as shown in
Figure 6.7a. We assume that each department can have a number of locations. The example relation
state for DEPARTMENT is shown in Figure 6.7b.

FIGURE 4.7: Normalization into 1NF. (a) A relation schema that is not in 1NF.

FIGURE 4.7: Normalization into 1NF. (b) Example state of relation DEPARTMENT without normalization.

 As we can see, state of relation DEPARTMENT in Figure 4.7 is not in 1NF because DLOCATIONS
is not an atomic attribute.

There are three main techniques to achieve first normal form for such a relation:
a) Remove the attribute DLOCATIONS that violates 1NF and place it in a separate relation
DEPT_LOCATIONS along with the primary key DNUMBER of DEPARTMENT.
i) The primary key of this relation is the combination {DNUMBER, DLOCATION}, as shown in
following Figure.
ii) A distinct tuple in DEPT_LOCATIONS exists for each location of a department.
iii) This decomposes the non-1NF relation into two 1NFrelations.

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b) Expand the key so that there will be a separate tuple in the original DEPARTMENT relation for each
location of a DEPARTMENT, as shown in the following Figure 6.8.
i) In this case, the primary key becomes the combination {DNUMBER, DLOCATION}.
ii) This solution has the disadvantage of introducing redundancy in the relation.

Figure 6.8: 1NF version of DEPARTMENT relation with redundancy.

c) If a maximum number of values is known for the attribute-for example, if it is known that at most three
locations can exist for a department-replace the DLOCATIONS attribute by three atomic attributes:
DLOCATIONl, DLOCATION2, and DLOCATION3.

DNAME DNUMBER DMGRSSN DLOCATION1 DLOCATION2 DLOCATION3

i)
This solution has the disadvantage of introducing null values if most departments have fewer than
three locations.
ii) It further introduces a spurious semantics about the ordering among the location values that is not
originally intended.
 Of the three solutions above, the first is generally considered best because it does not suffer from
redundancy and it is completely general, having no limit placed on a maximum number of values.

 First normal form also disallows multivalued attributes that are themselves composite. These are called
nested relations because each tuple can have a relation within it.
 Figure 4.9a shows how the EMP_PROJ relation schema could appear if nesting is allowed. Each tuple
Represents an employee entity, and a relation PROJS(PNUMBER, HOURS) within each tuple
represents the employee's projects and the hours per week that employee works on each project.
 The schema of this EMP_PROJ relation can be represented as follows:
EMP_PROJ (SSN, ENAME, {PROJS(PNUMBER, HOURS)})
The set braces { } identify the attribute PROJS as multivalued, and we list the component attributes
that form PROJS between parentheses ( ).

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FIGURE 4.9 Normalizing nested relations into 1NF. (a) Schema of the EMP_PROJ relation with a "nested relation"
attribute PROJS. (b) Example extension of the EMPROJ relation showing nested relations within each tuple.

To normalize this into INF, we remove the nested relation attributes into a new relation and
propagate the primary key into it; the primary key of the new relation will combine the partial key with
the primary key of the original relation. Decomposition and primary key propagation yield the schemas
EMP_PROJl and EMP_PROJ2.

4.3.4 Second Normal Form:

 Second normal form (2NF) is based on the concept of Full functional dependency.
 A functional dependency X→Y is a full functional dependency if removal of any attribute ‘A’ from
‘X’ means that the dependency does not hold any more. That is, for any attribute A € X, (X - {A})
does not functionally determine ‘Y’.
 A functional dependency X→Y is a partial dependency if some attribute A € X can be removed from
‘X’ and the dependency still holds.
That is, for some A € X, (X - {A}) → Y.

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 In the following Figure 6.10, {SSN, PNUMBER}→HOURS is a full dependency (neither SSN →
HOURS nor PNUMBER→HOURS holds). However, the dependency {SSN, PNUMBER} →
ENAME is partial because SSN → ENAME holds.

Figure 6.10: Relation EMP_PROJ is in 1NF but not in 2NF

 Definition: A relation schema ‘R’ is in 2NF if every nonprime attribute ‘A’ in ‘R’ is fully
functionally dependent on the primary key of ‘R’. or A relation schema ‘R’ is in second normal
form (2NF) if every nonprime attribute ‘A’ in R is not partially dependent on any key of ‘R’.
 The test for 2NF involves testing for functional dependencies whose left-hand side is a primary key
composed of multiple attributes. If the primary key contains a single attribute, the test need not be
applied at all.
 The EMP_PROJ relation in the above figure is in 1NF but is not in 2NF.
a) The nonprime attribute ENAME violates 2NF because of FD2. ENAME is partially dependent on
{SSN,PNUMBER} and not dependent on PNUMBER.(Given ENAME can be determined only by
SSN. So the other attributes are not needed for that table)
b) The nonprime attributes PNAME and PLOCATION violates 2NF because of FD3. PNAME and
PLOCATION are partially dependent on {SSN,PNUMBER} and not dependent on SSN.
 The functional dependencies FD1, FD2 and FD3 in Figure 4.10 hence lead to the decomposition of
EMP_PROJ into the three relation schemas EPl, EP2, and EP3 shown below, each of which is in 2NF.

4.3.4 Third Normal Form:

 Third normal form (3NF) is based on the concept of Transitive dependency.

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 A functional dependency X→Y in a relation schema ‘R’ is a transitive dependency if there is a set of
attributes ‘Z’ that is neither a candidate key nor a subset of any key of R, and both X→Z and Z→Y hold.
 Definition: A relation schema ‘R’ is in 3NF if it satisfies 2NFand no nonprime attribute of ‘R’ is
transitively dependent on the primary key. A relation schema ‘R’ is in third normal form (3NF) if,
whenever a nontrivial functional dependency X → A holds in ‘R’, either
(a) ‘X’ is a superkey of ‘R’, or
(b) ‘A’ is a prime attribute of R.

 The dependency SSN→ DMGRSSN is transitive through DNUMBER in EMP_DEPT of Figure 4.11
because:
a) Both the dependencies SSN→DNUMBER and DNUMBER→DMGRSSN hold.
b) DNUMBER is neither a key itself nor a subset of the key of EMP_DEPT.
c) We can see that the dependency of Dmgr_ssn on Dnumber is undesirable in EMP_DEPT since
Dnumber is not a key of EMP_DEPT.

Figure 4.11 Relation EMP_DEPT is in 1NF and 2NF but not in 3NF

 The relation schema EMP_DEPT in Figure 4.11 is in 2NF, since no partial dependencies on a key exist.
However, EMP_DEPT is not in 3NF because of the transitive dependency of DMGRSSN (and also
DNAME) on SSN via DNUMBER.
 We can normalize EMP_DEPT by decomposing it into the two 3NF relation schemas EDl and ED2
shown in following Figure.

Table 6.1 informally summarizes the three normal forms based on primary keys, the tests used in each
case, and the corresponding "remedy" or normalization performed to achieve the normal form.

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TABLE 6.1: SUMMARY OF NORMAL FORMS BASED ON PRIMARY KEYS AND CORRESPONDING NORMALIZATION

4.4. EXAMPLE:
 Suppose that there are two candidate keys: 1) PROPERTY_ID# and 2) {COUNTY_NAME,
LOT#}; that is, lot numbers are unique only within each county, but PROPERTY_ID numbers are
unique across counties for the entire state.

Candidate key

Figure 4.12: The LOTS relation with its functional dependencies FD1 and FD2

 Based on the two candidate keys PROPERTY_ID# and {COUNTY_NAME, LOT#}, the functional
dependencies FD1 and FD2 of Figure 4.12 hold.

 We choose PROPERTY_ID# as the primary key, so it is underlined in Figure 4.12.

 Suppose that the following two additional functional dependencies hold in LOTS:
FD3: COUNTY_NAME → TAX_RATE
FD4: AREA → PRICE

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 The LOTS relation schema violates the general definition of 2NF as TAX_RATE is partially
dependent on the candidate key {COUNTY_NAME, LOT#} because:
a) Due to FD2 {COUNTY_NAME, LOT#} → TAX_RATE
b) Due to FD3 {COUNTY_NAME} → TAX_RATE

 To normalize LOTS into 2NF, we decompose it into the two relations LOTS1 and LOTS2, shown
below.

Figure 4.13: LOTS1 and LOTS2 in 2NF

 To normalize LOTS1 into 3NF, we decompose it into the relation schemas LOTS1A and LOTS1B as
shown in Figure 4.14

Figure 4.14: LOTS1A and LOTS1B in 3NF

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a) We construct LOTS1A by removing the attribute PRICE that violates 3NF from LOTS1 and placing
it with AREA (the left-hand side of FD4 that causes the transitive dependency) into another relation
LOTS1B.
 Two points are worth noting about this example and the general definition of 3NF:
a) LOTS1 violates 3NF because PRICE is transitively dependent on each of the candidate keys of
LOTS1 via the nonprime attribute AREA.
b) we find that both FD3 and FD4 violate 3NF. We could hence decompose LOTS into LOTSlA,
LOTSlB, and LOTS2 directly.

4.5 BOYCE-CODD NORMAL FORM:

 Boyce-Codd normal form (BCNF) was proposed as a simpler form of 3NF, but it was found to be
stricter than 3NF.

 Every relation in BCNF is also in 3NF; however, a relation in 3NF is not necessarily in BCNF.

 Definition. A relation schema R is in BCNF if whenever a nontrivial functional dependency X → A

holds in R, then X is a superkey of R.

 Consider the relation schema of LOTS1A given below

FD5: AREA → COUNTY_NAME

 The relation schema LOTS1A still is in 3NF because COUNTY_NAME is a prime attribute.

 The only difference between the definitions of BCNF and 3NF is that condition (b) of 3NF, which
allows A to be prime, is absent from BCNF.
 In our example, FD5 violates BCNF in LOTS1A because AREA is not a superkey of LOTS1A.
 Note that FD5 satisfies 3NF in LOTSIA because COUNTY_NAME is a prime attribute (condition b),
but this condition does not exist in the definition of BCNF.
 We can decompose LOTSIA into two BCNF relations LOTS1AX and LOTS1AY as shown below.
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 The relation schema R shown in following Figure illustrates the general case of a relation being in 3NF
but not in BCNF.

4.6 MULTIVALUED DEPENDENCY (MVD) AND FOURTH NORMAL FORM

 Multivalued dependencies are a consequence of first normal form (1NF), which disallows an attribute in
a tuple to have a set of values, and the accompanying process of converting an unnormalized relation
into 1NF.
 If we have two or more multivalued independent attributes in the same relation schema, we get into a
problem of having to repeat every value of one of the attributes with every value of the other attribute to
keep the relation state consistent and to maintain the independence among the attributes involved. This
constraint is specified by a multivalued dependency.

4.6.1 Formal Definition of Multivalued Dependency

Definition of Multivalued dependency: A multivalued dependency specified on relation schema R,
where X and Y are both subsets of R, specifies the following constraint on any relation state r of R: If two
tuples t1 and t2 exist in r such that t1[X] = t2[X], then two tuples t3 and t4 should also exist in r with the
following properties, where we use Z to denote (R – (X ∪ Y)):

t3[X] = t4[X] = t1[X] = t2[X].

t3[Y] = t1[Y] and t4[Y] = t2[Y].
t3[Z] = t2[Z] and t4[Z] = t1[Z].

Whenever holds, we say that X multidetermines Y. Because of the symmetry in the definition,
whenever holds in R, so does . Hence, implies , and therefore it is
sometimes written as .

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Definition of 4NF: A relation schema R is in 4NF with respect to a set of dependencies F (that includes
functional dependencies and multivalued dependencies) if, for every nontrivial multivalued dependency X
→→ Y in F+ X is a superkey for R.

 Inference rules followed in 4NF are:

In the EMP relation of Figure 4.15(a), the values ‘X’ and ‘Y’ of Pname are repeated with each value of
Dname (or, by symmetry, the values ‘John’ and ‘Anna’ of Dname are repeated with each value of Pname).
In 4.15 (c), not every Sname determines various Part_name and not every Sname determines multiple
Proj_name. so it is not MVD. Therefore it is in 4NF.
Example 1: Figure 4.15

Example 2:

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4.7 JOIN DEPENDENCIES AND FIFTH NORMAL FORM (5NF)

Definition of join dependency: A join dependency (JD), denoted by JD(R1, R2, ..., Rn), specified on
relation schema R, specifies a constraint on the states r of R. The constraint states that every legal state r of
R should have a nonadditive join decomposition into R1, R2, ..., Rn.
Hence, for every such r we have

Definition of 5 NF: A relation schema R is in fifth normal form (5NF) (or project-join normal form
(PJNF)) with respect to a set F of functional, multivalued, and join dependencies if, for every nontrivial join
dependency JD(R1, R2, ..., Rn) in F+ (that is, implied by F), every Ri is a superkey of R.

Figure 4.16(d) shows how the SUPPLY relation with the join dependency is decomposed into three relations
R1, R2, and R3 that are each in 5NF.
Notice that applying a natural join to any two of these relations produces spurious tuples, but applying a
natural join to all three together does not.

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Figure 4.16

Algorithm 4.12(a). Finding a Key K for R Given a set F of Functional Dependencies:

Input: A relation R and a set of functional dependencies F on the attributes of

R.
1. Set K := R.
2. For each attribute A in K
{compute (K – A)+ with respect to F;
if (K – A)+ contains all the attributes in R, then set K := K – {A} };

4.8 PROPERTIES OF RELATIONAL DECOMPOSITIONS

4.8.1 Relation Decomposition and Insufficiency of Normal Forms:
 Let universal relation schema R = {A1, A2, ..., An} that includes all the attributes of the database.
 We implicitly make the universal relation assumption, which states that every attribute name is unique.
 The set F of functional dependencies that should hold on the attributes of R is specified by the database
designers and is made available to the design algorithms.
 Using the functional dependencies, the algorithms decompose the universal relation schema R into a set
of relation schemas D = {R1, R2, ..., Rm} that will become the relational database schema; D is called a
decomposition of R.
 We must make sure that each attribute in R will appear in at least one relation schema Ri in the
decomposition so that no attributes are lost. This is called the attribute preservation condition of a
decomposition.

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consider the EMP_LOCS(Ename, Plocation) relation in below, which is in 3NF and also in BCNF. In fact,
any relation schema with only two attributes is automatically in BCNF. Although EMP_LOCS is in BCNF,
it still gives rise to spurious tuples when joined with EMP_PROJ (Ssn, Pnumber, Hours, Pname, Plocation),
which is not in BCNF.

4.8.2 Dependency Preservation Property of a Decomposition

 It would be useful if each functional dependency X->Y specified in F either appeared directly in one of
the relation schemas Ri in the decomposition D or could be inferred from the dependencies that appear
in some Ri. This is the dependency preservation condition.
 We want to preserve the dependencies because each dependency in F represents a constraint on the
database.
 If one of the dependencies is not represented in some individual relation Ri of the decomposition, we
cannot enforce this constraint by dealing with an individual relation.
 We may have to join multiple relations so as to include all attributes involved in that dependency.
 Given a set of dependencies F on R, the projection of F on Ri, denoted by where Ri is a subset of
R, is the set of dependencies in F+ such that the attributes in are all contained in Ri.
 If a decomposition is not dependency-preserving, some dependency is lost in the decomposition. To
check that a lost dependency holds, we must take the JOIN of two or more relations in the
decomposition to get a relation that includes all left and right-hand-side attributes of the lost dependency,
and then check that the dependency holds on the result of the JOIN.

4.8.3 Nonadditive (Lossless) Join Property of a Decomposition

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 The nonadditive join property, which ensures that no spurious tuples are generated when a NATURAL
JOIN operation is applied to the relations resulting from the decomposition.
 Because this is a property of a decomposition of relation schemas, the condition of no spurious tuples
should hold on every legal relation state—that is, every relation state that satisfies the functional
dependencies in F.
 Hence, the lossless join property is always defined with respect to a specific set F of dependencies.

Definition: Formally, a decomposition D = {R1, R2, ..., Rm} of R has the lossless (nonadditive) join
property with respect to the set of dependencies F on R if, for every relation state r of R that satisfies F, the
following holds, where * is the NATURAL JOIN of all the relations in D: *(πR1(r), ..., πRm(r) ) = r.
 The decomposition of EMP_PROJ(Ssn, Pnumber, Hours, Ename, Pname, Plocation) in into
EMP_LOCS(Ename, Plocation) and EMP_PROJ1(Ssn, Pnumber, Hours, Pname, Plocation) does not
have the nonadditive join property.

Algorithm 4.8. Testing for Nonadditive Join Property

Input: A universal relation R, a decomposition D = {R1, R2, ..., Rm} of R, and a set F of functional
dependencies.
Note: comments follow the format: (* comment *).
1. Create an initial matrix S with one row i for each relation Ri in D, and one column j for each attribute Aj
in R.
2. Set S(i, j):= bij for all matrix entries. (* each bij is a distinct symbol associated with indices (i, j) *).
3. For each row i representing relation schema Ri
{for each column j representing attribute Aj
{if (relation Ri includes attribute Aj) then set S(i, j):= aj;};}; (* each aj is a distinct
symbol associated with index ( j) *).
4. Repeat the following loop until a complete loop execution results in no changes to S
{for each functional dependency X→Y in F
{for all rows in S that have the same symbols in the columns corresponding to attributes
in X
{make the symbols in each column that correspond to an attribute in Y be the same in
all these rows as follows:
If any of the rows has an a symbol for the column, set the other rows to that same a
symbol in the column.
If no a symbol exists for the attribute in any of the rows, choose one of the b symbols
that appears in one of the rows for the attribute and set the other rows to that same b
symbol in the column}}}
5. If a row is made up entirely of ‘a’ symbols, then the decomposition has the nonadditive
join property; otherwise, it does not.

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Figure: 4.8
R1 (Emp_ssn , Esal, Ephone, Dno)
R2 (Pno, Pname, Plocation)
R3 (Emp_ssn, Pno)
This design achieves both the desirable properties of dependency preservation and nonadditive join.

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4.8.4 Testing Binary Decompositions for the Nonadditive Join Property (NJB)
 There is a special case of a decomposition called a binary decomposition—decomposition of a relation
R into two relations, Property NJB (Nonadditive Join Test for Binary Decompositions).
 A decomposition D = {R1, R2} of R has the lossless (nonadditive) join property with respect to a set of
functional dependencies F on R if and only if either
The FD ((R1 ∩ R2)→(R1 – R2)) is in F+, or
The FD ((R1 ∩ R2)→(R2 – R1)) is in F+

 Example decomposition of the TEACH(Instructor, Course, Student) relation into the two relations
{Instructor, Course} and {Instructor, Student}. These are valid decompositions because they are
nonadditive per the above test.

4.8.5 Successive Nonadditive Join Decompositions

If a decomposition D = {R1, R2, ..., Rm} of R has the nonadditive (lossless) join property with respect to a
set of functional dependencies F on R, and if a decomposition Di = {Q1, Q2, ..., Qk} of Ri has the
nonadditive join property with respect to the projection of F on Ri,
then the decomposition D2 = {R1, R2, ..., Ri−1, Q1, Q2, ..., Qk, R i+1, ..., Rm} of R has the nonadditive join
property with respect to F.

4.9 ABOUT NULLS, DANGLING TUPLES, AND ALTERNATIVE RELATIONAL DESIGNS

4.9.1 Problems with NULL Values and Dangling Tuples:

 We must carefully consider the problems associated with NULLs when designing a
relational database schema.
 One problem occurs when some tuples have NULL values for attributes that will be used to join
individual relations in the decomposition.
To illustrate this, consider the database shown in Figure 16.2(a), where two The last two employee
tuples— ‘Berger’ and ‘Benitez’—represent newly hired employees who have not yet been assigned to a
department).
Now suppose that we want to retrieve a list of (Ename, Dname) values for all the employees. If we apply
the NATURAL JOIN operation on EMPLOYEE and DEPARTMENT (Figure 16.2(b)), the two
forementioned tuples will not appear in the result. The OUTER JOIN operation can deal with this problem.

 In general, whenever a relational database schema is designed in which two or more relations are
interrelated via foreign keys, particular care must be devoted to watching for potential NULL values in
foreign keys. This can cause unexpected loss of information in queries that involve joins on that foreign
key. Moreover, if NULLs occur in other attributes, such as Salary, their effect on built-in functions such
as SUM and AVERAGE must be carefully evaluated.
 A related problem is that of dangling tuples, which may occur if we carry a decomposition too far.
Suppose that we decompose the EMPLOYEE relation in Figure
16.2(a) further into EMPLOYEE_1 and EMPLOYEE_2, shown in Figure 16.3(a) and
16.3(b).

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If we apply the NATURAL JOIN operation to EMPLOYEE_1 and EMPLOYEE_2, we get the original
EMPLOYEE relation. However, we may use the alternative representation, shown in Figure 16.3(c), where
we do not include a tuple in EMPLOYEE_3 if the employee has not been assigned a department (instead of
including a tuple with NULL for Dnum as in EMPLOYEE_2).
If we use EMPLOYEE_3 instead of EMPLOYEE_2 and apply a NATURAL JOIN on EMPLOYEE_1 and
EMPLOYEE_3, the tuples for Berger and Benitez will not appear in the result; these are called dangling
tuples in EMPLOYEE_1 because they are represented in only one of the two relations that represent
employees, and hence are lost if we apply an
(INNER) JOIN operation.
Figure 16.2 (a)

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4.10 OTHER DEPENDENCIES AND NORMAL FORMS

Other types of dependencies:
4.10.1 Inclusion Dependencies
Inclusion dependencies were defined in order to formalize two types of inter relational constraints:
 The foreign key (or referential integrity) constraint cannot be specified as a functional or multivalued
dependency because it relates attributes across relations.
Definition: An inclusion dependency R.X < S.Y between two sets of attributes— X of relation schema R,
and Y of relation schema S—specifies the constraint that, at any specific time when r is a relation state of R
and s a relation state of S, we must have

For example, we can specify the following inclusion dependencies on the relational schema in which
represent represent referential integrity constraints:
DEPARTMENT.Dmgr_ssn < EMPLOYEE.Ssn
WORKS_ON.Ssn < EMPLOYEE.Ssn
EMPLOYEE.Dnumber < DEPARTMENT.Dnumber
PROJECT.Dnum < DEPARTMENT.Dnumber
WORKS_ON.Pnumber < PROJECT.Pnumber
DEPT_LOCATIONS.Dnumber < DEPARTMENT.Dnumber

We can also use inclusion dependencies to represent class/subclass relationships. For example, we can
specify the following inclusion dependencies:

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EMPLOYEE.Ssn < PERSON.Ssn

STUDENT.Ssn < PERSON.Ssn

As with other types of dependencies, there are inclusion dependency inference rules (IDIRs). The following
are three examples:
IDIR1 (reflexivity): R.X < R.X.
IDIR2 (attribute correspondence): If R.X < S.Y, where X = {A1, A2, ..., An} and Y = {B1,
B2, ..., Bn} and Ai corresponds to Bi, then R.Ai < S.Bi for 1 ≤ i ≤ n.
IDIR3 (transitivity): If R.X < S.Y and S.Y < T.Z, then R.X < T.Z.

4.10.2 Template Dependencies

 The idea behind template dependencies is to specify a template—or example—that

defines each constraint or dependency.
 There are two types of templates: tuple-generating templates and constraint generating
templates.
 A template consists of a number of hypothesis tuples that are meant to show an example of the tuples
that may appear in one or more relations.The other part of the template is the template conclusion.
 For tuple-generating templates, the conclusion is a set of tuples that must also exist in the relations if
the hypothesis tuples are there.
 For constraint-generating templates, the template conclusion is a condition that must hold on the
hypothesis tuples.

Reshma D’Souza and Priyadarshini M, Dept. of CSE, CITech, Bangalore Source : diginotes.in
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4.10.3 Functional Dependencies Based on Arithmetic Functions and Procedures

 Sometimes some attributes in a relation may be related via some arithmetic function or a more
complicated functional relationship.
For example, in the relation
ORDER_LINE (Order#, Item#, Quantity, Unit_price, Extended_price, Discounted_price)
each tuple represents an item from an order with a particular quantity, and the price
per unit for that item.

Reshma D’Souza and Priyadarshini M, Dept. of CSE, CITech, Bangalore Source : diginotes.in
P a g e | 36 | DBMS Module 4 Source : diginotes.in

In this relation, (Quantity, Unit_price )→Extended_price by the formula

Extended_price = Unit_price * Quantity.

Hence, there is a unique value for Extended_price for every pair (Quantity, Unit_price ),
and thus it conforms to the definition of functional dependency.
 Therefore, we can say
(Item#, Quantity, Unit_price ) → Discounted_price, or
(Item#, Quantity, Extended_price) → Discounted_price.

4.10.4 Domain-Key Normal Form

 The idea behind domain-key normal form (DKNF) is to specify (theoretically, at least) the ultimate
normal form that takes into account all possible types of dependencies and constraints.
 A relation schema is said to be in DKNF if all constraints and dependencies that should hold on the valid
relation states can be enforced simply by enforcing the domain constraints and key constraints on the
relation.
 For a relation in DKNF, it becomes very straightforward to enforce all database constraints by simply
checking that each attribute value in a tuple is of the appropriate domain and that every key constraint is
enforced.
 However, because of the difficulty of including complex constraints in a DKNF relation,
its practical utility is limited,
For example, consider a relation CAR(Make, Vin#) (where Vin# is the vehicle identification number) and
another relation MANUFACTURE(Vin#, Country) (where Country is the country of manufacture).
A general constraint may be of the following form:
If the Make is either ‘Toyota’ or ‘Lexus,’ then the first character of the Vin# is a ‘J’ if the country of
manufacture is ‘Japan’; if the Make is ‘Honda’ or ‘Acura,’ the second character of the Vin# is a ‘J’ if the
country of manufacture is ‘Japan.’

Reshma D’Souza and Priyadarshini M, Dept. of CSE, CITech, Bangalore Source : diginotes.in