Normalization

Normalization is a process of organizing the data in database to avoid data redundancy,

insertion anomaly, update anomaly & deletion anomaly. Let’s discuss about anomalies first
then we will discuss normal forms with examples.

Anomalies in DBMS

There are three types of anomalies that occur when the database is not normalized. These are
– Insertion, update and deletion anomaly. Let’s take an example to understand this.

Example: Suppose a manufacturing company stores the employee details in a table named
employee that has four attributes: emp_id for storing employee’s id, emp_name for storing
employee’s name, emp_address for storing employee’s address and emp_dept for storing the
department details in which the employee works. At some point of time the table looks like
this:

emp_idemp_nameemp_addressemp_dept
101 Rick Delhi D001
101 Rick Delhi D002
123 Maggie Agra D890
166 Glenn Chennai D900
166 Glenn Chennai D004
The above table is not normalized. We will see the problems that we face when a table is not
normalized.

Update anomaly: In the above table we have two rows for employee Rick as he belongs to
two departments of the company. If we want to update the address of Rick then we have to
update the same in two rows or the data will become inconsistent. If somehow, the correct
address gets updated in one department but not in other then as per the database, Rick would
be having two different addresses, which is not correct and would lead to inconsistent data.

Insert anomaly: Suppose a new employee joins the company, who is under training and
currently not assigned to any department then we would not be able to insert the data into the
table if emp_dept field doesn’t allow nulls.

Delete anomaly: Suppose, if at a point of time the company closes the department D890 then
deleting the rows that are having emp_dept as D890 would also delete the information of
employee Maggie since she is assigned only to this department.

To overcome these anomalies, we need to normalize the data. In the next section we will
discuss about normalization.
Trivial Functional Dependency (FD)
Trivial − If a functional dependency FD, X → Y holds, where Y is a subset of X, then it is
called a trivial FD. Trivial FDs always hold.
Non-trivial − If an FD, X → Y holds, where Y is not a subset of X, then it is called a non-
trivial FD.
Completely non-trivial − If an FD, X → Y holds, where x intersect Y = Φ, it is said to be a
completely non-trivial FD.

Axioms
If F is a set of functional dependencies then the closure of F, denoted as F+, is the set of all
functional dependencies logically implied by F.
Reflexive rule − If alpha is a set of attributes and beta is subset of alpha, then alpha holds
beta.
Augmentation rule − If a → b holds and y is attribute set, then ay → by also holds. That is
adding attributes in dependencies, does not change the basic dependencies.
Transitivity rule − Same as transitive rule in algebra, if a → b holds and b → c holds, then a
→ c also holds. a → b is called as a functionally that determines b.

Normalization of Database

Database Normalization is a technique of organizing the data in the database. Normalization

is a systematic approach of decomposing tables to eliminate data redundancy(repetition) and
undesirable characteristics like Insertion, Update and Deletion Anomalies. It is a multi-step
process that puts data into tabular form, removing duplicated data from the relation tables.

Normalization is used for mainly two purposes,

Eliminating redundant(useless) data.
Ensuring data dependencies make sense i.e. data is logically stored

Normalization: a formal method that identifies relations based on their primary key and the
functional dependencies among their attributes.
Functional dependencies is a kind of Constraint between attributes.

Functional dependency: Describes the relationship between attributes in a relation. If A and

B are attributes of a relation R, B is functionally dependent on A (den. A → B), if each value
of A in R is associated with exactly one value of B in R.
B is functionally dependent on A. i.e. A B
Then attribute or set of attributes on the left-hand side of the arrow is called determinant.

Identify the candidate key for a relation: recognise the attribute (group of attributes) that
uniquely identifies each row in a relation. All of the attributes that are not part of the primary
key (non-primary key attributes) should be functionally dependent on the key.

Full functional dependency: If A and B are attributes of a relation, B is fully functionally

dependent on A if B is functionally dependent on A, but not any proper subset of A.
A → B is partially dependent if there is some attribute that can be removed from A and the
dependency still holds.( https://www.studytonight.com/dbms/second-normal-form.php link to
understand partial dependency)

Transitive dependency: A condition where A, B and C are attributes of a relation such that if
A → B and B → C, then C is transitively dependent on A via B (provided that A is not
functionally dependent on B or C).( https://www.studytonight.com/dbms/third-normal-form.php
link to understand transitive dependency)

Closure Method- it is useful in finding the candidate key of a given relation with its functional
dependency.
Let R(A,B,C,D) be a relation having attributes A,B,C and D wit the following functional
dependency {AB, BC, CD}
Then closure of A will be denoted by A+ which means the set of attributes that can be
determined by attribute A.
Since A determines itself, A determines B, B determines C implies A determines C (transitive
rule) similarly A determines D (through transitivity)
Hence, A+=A,B,C,D
Since A can determine all the attributes of the given relation therefore A is a candidate key.
B+=B,C,D , B cannot determines A hence B is not a candidate Key.
Similarly C+=C, D and D+=D neither C nor d is a candidate key.
So only A is the candidate key in the above example therefore a is prime attribute and B,C and
D are non prime attribute

Example 2. R( A,B,C,d) FD { AB,BC,CD, DA}

Then A+=A,B,C,D
B+= B,C,D,A
C+= C,D, A,B
D+= D, A,B,C
Prime attribute={A,B,C,D}
Non prime attribute={null}

Example #: R(A,B,C,D,E) and FD {AB, BCD, EC, DA}

Since attribute E does not exist at RHS of any FD hence E must be a part of candidate as E can
be determines by itself only. First we check for the closure of E
E+=E,C Hence E is not a candidate key.
AE+=A,E,B,C,D (A and E determines themselves means A and E , a determines B as AB
and EC means e determines C then BC together determines D as BCD)
Therefore, AE is a candidate key as its closure contains all the existing attributes of the given
relation. Now we check for the BE+, CE+, DE+
BE+=B,E,C,D,A, BE is a candidate key
CE+=C,E CE is not a candidate key
DE+=D,E,A,C,A DE is a candidate key
Therefore prime attributes ={A,B,D,E}
Non prime attribute = {C}

NORMALIZATION
Here are the most commonly used normal forms:
 First normal form(1NF)
 Second normal form(2NF)
 Third normal form(3NF)
 Boyce & Codd normal form (BCNF)

First normal form (1NF)

First Normal Form is defined in the definition of relations tables itself. This rule defines that
all the attributes in a relation must have atomic domains. The values in an atomic domain are
indivisible units.
Example: Suppose a company wants to store the names and contact details of its employees.
It creates a table that looks like this:

emp_idemp_nameemp_addressemp_mobile
 101 Herschel New Delhi 8912312390

8812121212
102 Jon Kanpur
9900012222

103 Ron Chennai 7778881212

9990000123
104 Lester Bangalore
8123450987
Two employees (Jon & Lester) are having two mobile numbers so the company stored them in
the same field as you can see in the table above.
This table is not in 1NF as the rule says “each attribute of a table must have atomic (single)
values”, the emp_mobile values for employees Jon & Lester violates that rule.
To make the table complies with 1NF we should have the data like this:

emp_idemp_nameemp_addressemp_mobile

101 Herschel New Delhi 8912312390

102 Jon Kanpur 8812121212

102 Jon Kanpur 9900012222

103 Ron Chennai 7778881212

104 Lester Bangalore 9990000123

104 Lester Bangalore 8123450987

Second Normal Form Before we learn about the second normal form, we need to understand
the following –
Prime attribute − An attribute, which is a part of the prime-key, is known as a prime attribute.
Non-prime attribute − An attribute, which is not a part of the prime-key, is said to be a non-
prime attribute. If we follow second normal form, then every non-prime attribute should be
fully functionally dependent on prime key attribute. That is, if X → A holds, then there should
not be any proper subset Y of X, for which Y → A also holds true.

Second normal form (2NF)

A table is said to be in 2NF if both the following conditions hold:
 Table is in 1NF (First normal form)
 There should be no partial dependency OR no non-prime attribute is dependent on the
proper subset of any candidate key of table.
 How to check for Partial Dependency?
LHS should be proper subset of Candidate Key and RHS should be a non -prime
attribute.

An attribute that is not part of any candidate key is known as non-prime attribute.
Example: Suppose a school wants to store the data of teachers and the subjects they teach.
They create a table that looks like this: Since a teacher can teach more than one subjects, the
table can have multiple rows for a same teacher.

teacher_idSubject teacher_age

111 Maths 38

111 Physics 38

222 Biology 38

333 Physics 40

333 Chemistry40

Candidate Keys: {teacher_id, subject}

Non prime attribute: teacher_age
The table is in 1 NF because each attribute has atomic values. However, it is not in 2NF because
non - prime attribute teacher_age is dependent on teacher_id alone which is a proper subset of
candidate key. This violates the rule for 2NF as the rule says “no non-prime attribute is
dependent on the proper subset of any candidate key of the table”.
To make the table complies with 2NF we can break it in two tables like this:
teacher_details table:

teacher_id teacher_age

111 38

222 38

333 40
teacher_subject table:

teacher_idsubject

111 Maths

111 Physics
 222 Biology

333 Physics

333 Chemistry
Now the tables comply with Second normal form (2NF).

Example @:
R (A,B,C,D,E,F) FD {CF,EA, ECD,AB}
EC+=ECDAFB
Prime attribute {E,C}
Non prime attribute{A,B,D,F}
All attributes are atomic (trivially) hence relation is in 1NF
Now check for partial dependency for each FD
CF, C is a proper subset of CK and LHS attribute F is a non-prime attribute hece there exist
PD.
EA, similarly it is a partial dependence

Third Normal form (3NF)

A table design is said to be in 3NF if both the following conditions hold:
 Table must be in 2NF
 Transitive functional dependency of non-prime attribute on any super key should be
removed.
An attribute that is not part of any candidate key is known as non-prime attribute.
In other words 3NF can be explained like this: A table is in 3NF if it is in 2NF and for each
functional dependency X-> Y at least one of the following conditions hold:
 X is a super key of table
 Y is a prime attribute of table
An attribute that is a part of one of the candidate keys is known as prime attribute.
Example: Suppose a company wants to store the complete address of each employee, they
create a table named employee_details that looks like this:

emp_idemp_nameemp_zip emp_state emp_city emp_district

1001 John 282005 UP Agra Dayal Bagh

 1002 Ajeet 222008 TN Chennai M-City

1006 Lora 282007 TN Chennai Urrapakkam

1101 Lilly 292008 UK Pauri Bhagwan

1201 Steve 222999 MP Gwalior Ratan

Super keys: {emp_id}, {emp_id, emp_name}, {emp_id, emp_name, emp_zip}…so on

Candidate Keys: {emp_id}
Non-prime attributes: all attributes except emp_id are non-prime as they are not part of any
candidate keys.

Here, emp_state, emp_city & emp_district dependent on emp_zip. And, emp_zip is dependent
on emp_id that makes non-prime attributes (emp_state, emp_city & emp_district) transitively
dependent on super key (emp_id). This violates the rule of 3NF.
To make this table complies with 3NF we have to break the table into two tables to remove the
transitive dependency:
employee table:

emp_idemp_nameemp_zip

1001 John 282005

1002 Ajeet 222008

1006 Lora 282007

1101 Lilly 292008

1201 Steve 222999

employee_zip table:

emp_zipemp_state emp_city emp_district

282005 UP Agra Dayal Bagh

222008 TN Chennai M-City

282007 TN Chennai Urrapakkam

292008 UK Pauri Bhagwan

222999 MP Gwalior Ratan

Boyce Codd normal form (BCNF)
It is an advance version of 3NF that’s why it is also referred as 3.5NF. BCNF is stricter than
3NF. A table complies with BCNF if it is in 3NF and for every functional dependency X->Y,
X should be the super key of the table.
Example: Suppose there is a company wherein employees work in more than one
department. They store the data like this:

emp_idemp_nationalityemp_dept dept_type dept_no_of_emp

1001 Austrian Production and planning D001 200

1001 Austrian Stores D001 250

1002 American design and technical support D134 100

1002 American Purchasing department D134 600

Functional dependencies in the table above:

emp_id -> emp_nationality
emp_dept -> {dept_type, dept_no_of_emp}
Candidate key: {emp_id, emp_dept}
The table is not in BCNF as neither emp_id nor emp_dept alone are keys.
To make the table comply with BCNF we can break the table in three tables like this:
emp_nationality table:

emp_idemp_nationality

1001 Austrian

1002 American

emp_dept table:

emp_dept dept_type dept_no_of_emp

Production and planning D001 200

Stores D001 250

design and technical support D134 100

Purchasing department D134 600

emp_dept_mapping table:
emp_idemp_dept

1001 Production and planning

1001 Stores

1002 design and technical support

1002 Purchasing department

Functional dependencies:
emp_id -> emp_nationality
emp_dept -> {dept_type, dept_no_of_emp}

Candidate keys:
For first table: emp_id
For second table: emp_dept
For third table: {emp_id, emp_dept}
This is now in BCNF as in both the functional dependencies left side part is a key.