Functional

Dependencies-More
Examples

1
Exercise #1
 Below is an instance of R(A1,A2,A3,A4).
Choose the FD which may hold on R
1. A4->A1
2. A2A3->A4
3. A2A3->A1

2
Solution #1
1. A4->A1 ???
 Incorrect: The 1st and 4th tuple violates it

2. A2A3->A4 ???
 Incorrect: The1st and 2nd tuple violates it.

3. A2A3 -> A1 ???

3
Exercise #2
 Let R(ABCDEFGH) satisfy the following
functional dependencies: {A->B, CH->A, B->E,
BD->C, EG->H, DE->F}
 Which of the following FD is also guaranteed to
be satisfied by R?
1. BFG --> AE Hint: Compute the closure of the LHS
2. ACG --> DH of each FD that you get as a choice.
If the RHS of the candidate FD is
3. CEG --> AB contained in the closure, then the
candidate follows from the given FDs,
otherwise not. 4
Solution #2
 FDs: {A->B, CH->A, B->E, BD->C, EG->H, DE->F}
1. BFG --> AE ???
 Incorrect: BFG+ = BFGEH, which includes E, but not A
2. ACG --> DH ???
 Incorrect: ACG+ = ACGBEH, which does not includes D.
3. CEG --> AB ???
 Correct: CEG+ = CEGHAB, which contains AB

5
Question #3
 Which of the following could be a key for
R(A,B,C,D,E,F,G) with functional
dependencies {AB->C, CD->E, EF->G, FG-
>E, DE->C, and BC->A}
1. BDF
2. ACDF
3. ABDFG
4. BDFG
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Solution #3 - 1
 {AB->C, CD->E, EF->G, FG->E, DE->C, and BC-
>A}
1. BDF ???
 No. BDF+ = BDF
2. ACDF ???
 No. ACDF+ = ACDFEG (The closure does not
include B)
3. ABDFG ???
 No. This choice is a superkey, but it has proper
subsets that are also keys (e.g. BDFG+ =
BDFGECA)

7
Solution #3 - 2
 {AB->C, CD->E, EF->G, FG->E, DE->C, and BC-
>A}
4. BDFG ???
 BDFG+ = ABCDEFG

 Check if any subset of BDFG is a key:

8
Finding Keys using FDs
 Tricks for finding the key:
 If an attribute never appears on the RHS of
any FD, it must be part of the key
 If an attribute never appears on the LHS of
any FD, but appears on the RHS of any FD, it
must not be part of any key

9
Exercise #5
Consider R = {A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H} with a set
of FDs
F = {CD→A, EC→H, GHB→AB, C→D, EG→A,
H→B, BE→CD, EC→B}
Find all the candidate keys of R

10
Solution #5 - 1
F = {CD→A, EC→H, GHB→AB, C→D, EG→A,
H→B, BE→CD, EC→B}
 First, we notice that:
 EFG never appear on RHS of any FD. So, EFG
must be part of ANY key of R
 A never appears on LHS of any FD, but appears
on RHS of some FD. So, A is not part of ANY key
of R
 We now see if EFG is itself a key…
 EFG+ = EFGA ≠ R; So, EFG alone is not key
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Solution #5 - 2
 Checking by adding single attribute with EFG (except A):
 BEFG+ = ABCDEFGH = R; it’s a key [BE→CD, EG→A,
EC→H]
 CEFG+ = ABCDEFGH = R; it’s a key [EG→A, EC→H,
H→B, BE→CD]
 DEFG+ = ADEFG ≠ R; it’s not a key [EG→A]
 EFGH+ = ABCDEFGH = R; it’s a key [EG→A, H→B,
BE→CD]
 If we add any further attribute(s), they will form the
superkey. Therefore, we can stop here searching for
candidate key(s).
 Therefore, candidate keys are: {BEFG, CEFG, EFGH}
12
Exercise #6
Consider R = {A, B, C, D, E, F, G} with a set of
FDs
F = {ABC→DE, AB→D, DE→ABCF, E→C}
Find all the candidate keys of R

13
Solution #6 - 1
F = {ABC→DE, AB→D, DE→ABCF, E→C}
 First, we notice that:
 G never appears on RHS of any FD. So, G must
be part of ANY key of R.
 F never appears on LHS of any FD, but appears
on RHS of some FD. So, F is not part of ANY key
of R
 G+ = G ≠ R So, G alone is not a key!

14
Solution #6 - 2
 Now we try to find keys by adding more attributes (except F) to
G
 Add LHS of FDs that have only one attribute (E in E→C):
 GE+ = GEC ≠ R
 Add LHS of FDs that have two attributes (AB in AB→D and DE in
DE→ABCF):
 GAB+ = GABD
 GDE+ = ABCDEFG = R; [DE→ABCF] It’s a key!
 Add LHS of FDs that have three attributes (ABC in ABC→DE),
but not taking super set of GDE:
 GABC+ = ABCDEFG = R; [ABC→DE, DE→ABCF] It’s a key!
 GABE+ = ABCDEFG = R; [AB→D, DE→ABCF] It’s a key!
 If we add any further attribute(s), they will form the superkey.
Therefore, we can stop here.
 The candidate key(s) are {GDE, GABC, GABE}

15
Exercise #7
Consider R = {A, B, C, D, E} with a set of FDs F =
{AB→DE, C→E, D→C, E→A}
And we wish to project those FDs onto relation S={A,
B, C}
Give the FDs that hold in S
 Hint:
 We need to compute the closure of all the subsets
of {A, B, C}, except the empty set and ABC.
 Then, we ignore the FDs that are trivial and those
that have D or E on the RHS

16
Solution #7
R = {A, B, C, D, E}
F = {AB→DE, C→E, D→C, E→A}
S={A, B, C}
 A+ = A
 B+ = B
 C+ = CEA [C→E, E→A]
 AB+ = ABDEC [AB→DE, D→C]
 AC+ = ACE [C→E]
 BC+ = BCEAD [C→E, E→A, AB→DE]
 We ignore D and E.
 So, the FDs that hold in S are:
 {C→A, AB→C, BC→A}
 (Note: BC→A can be ignored because it follows logically 17
from C→A)