Functional Dependency

The functional dependency is a relationship that exists between two attributes. It

typically exists between the primary key and non-key attribute within a table.

1. X   →   Y  

The left side of FD is known as a determinant, the right side of the production is
known as a dependent.

For example:

Assume we have an employee table with attributes: Emp_Id, Emp_Name,

Emp_Address.

Here Emp_Id attribute can uniquely identify the Emp_Name attribute of employee
table because if we know the Emp_Id, we can tell that employee name associated
with it.

Functional dependency can be written as:

1. Emp_Id → Emp_Name   

We can say that Emp_Name is functionally dependent on Emp_Id.

Types of Functional dependency

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 1. Trivial functional dependency

o A → B has trivial functional dependency if B is a subset of A.

o The following dependencies are also trivial like: A → A, B → B

Example:

1. Consider a table with two columns Employee_Id and Employee_Name.  
2. {Employee_id, Employee_Name}   →    Employee_Id is a trivial functional depende
ncy as   
3. Employee_Id is a subset of {Employee_Id, Employee_Name}.  
4. Also, Employee_Id → Employee_Id and Employee_Name   →    Employee_Name ar
e trivial dependencies too.  

2. Non-trivial functional dependency

o A → B has a non-trivial functional dependency if B is not a subset of A.

o When A intersection B is NULL, then A → B is called as complete non-trivial.

Example:

1. ID   →    Name,  
2. Name   →    DOB  

Inference Rule (IR):

o The Armstrong's axioms are the basic inference rule.
o Armstrong's axioms are used to conclude functional dependencies on a
relational database.
o The inference rule is a type of assertion. It can apply to a set of
FD(functional dependency) to derive other FD.
o Using the inference rule, we can derive additional functional dependency
from the initial set.

The Functional dependency has 6 types of inference rule:

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 1. Reflexive Rule (IR1)
In the reflexive rule, if Y is a subset of X, then X determines Y.

1. If X ⊇ Y then X  →    Y  

Example:

1. X = {a, b, c, d, e}  
2. Y = {a, b, c}  

2. Augmentation Rule (IR2)

The augmentation is also called as a partial dependency. In augmentation, if X
determines Y, then XZ determines YZ for any Z.

1. If X    →  Y then XZ   →   YZ   

Example:

1. For R(ABCD),  if A   →   B then AC  →   BC  

3. Transitive Rule (IR3)

In the transitive rule, if X determines Y and Y determine Z, then X must also
determine Z.

1. If X   →   Y and Y  →  Z then X  →   Z    

4. Union Rule (IR4)

Union rule says, if X determines Y and X determines Z, then X must also
determine Y and Z.

1. If X    →  Y and X   →  Z then X  →    YZ     

Proof:

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 1.X→Y(given)
2.X→Z(given)
3. X → XY (using IR 2 on 1 by augmentation with X. Where XX = X)
4. XY → YZ (using IR2 on 2 by augmentation with Y)
5. X → YZ (using IR3 on 3 and 4)

5. Decomposition Rule (IR5)

Decomposition rule is also known as project rule. It is the reverse of union rule.

This Rule says, if X determines Y and Z, then X determines Y and X determines Z

separately.

1. If X   →   YZ then X   →   Y and X  →    Z   

Proof:

1.X→YZ(given)
2.YZ→Y(usingIR1 Rule)
3. X → Y (using IR3 on 1 and 2)

6. Pseudo transitive Rule (IR6)

In Pseudo transitive Rule, if X determines Y and YZ determines W, then XZ
determines W.

1. If X   →   Y and YZ   →   W then XZ   →   W   

Proof:

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)

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Normalization
A large database defined as a single relation may result in data duplication. This
repetition of data may result in:

o Making relations very large.

o It isn't easy to maintain and update data as it would involve searching many
records in relation.
o Wastage and poor utilization of disk space and resources.
o The likelihood of errors and inconsistencies increases.

So to handle these problems, we should analyze and decompose the relations with
redundant data into smaller, simpler, and well-structured relations that are satisfy
desirable properties. Normalization is a process of decomposing the relations into
relations with fewer attributes.

What is Normalization?
o Normalization is the process of organizing the data in the database.
o Normalization is used to minimize the redundancy from a relation or set of
relations. It is also used to eliminate undesirable characteristics like Insertion,
Update, and Deletion Anomalies.
o Normalization divides the larger table into smaller and links them using
relationships.
o The normal form is used to reduce redundancy from the database table.

Why do we need Normalization?

The main reason for normalizing the relations is removing these anomalies. Failure to
eliminate anomalies leads to data redundancy and can cause data integrity and other
problems as the database grows. Normalization consists of a series of guidelines that
helps to guide you in creating a good database structure.

Data modification anomalies can be categorized into three types:

o Insertion Anomaly: Insertion Anomaly refers to when one cannot insert a

new tuple into a relationship due to lack of data.
o Deletion Anomaly: The delete anomaly refers to the situation where the
deletion of data results in the unintended loss of some other important data.

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 o Updatation Anomaly: The update anomaly is when an update of a single
data value requires multiple rows of data to be updated.

Types of Normal Forms:

Normalization works through a series of stages called Normal forms. The normal
forms apply to individual relations. The relation is said to be in particular normal form
if it satisfies constraints.

Following are the various types of Normal forms:

Normal Description
Form

1NF A relation is in 1NF if it contains an atomic value.

2NF A relation will be in 2NF if it is in 1NF and all non-key attributes are fully functi
dependent on the primary key.(functional)

3NF A relation will be in 3NF if it is in 2NF and no transition dependency exists.

BCNF A stronger definition of 3NF is known as Boyce Codd's normal form.

4NF A relation will be in 4NF if it is in Boyce Codd's normal form and has no multi-va
dependency.(multi valued)

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5NF A relation is in 5NF. If it is in 4NF and does not contain any join dependency, joining sh
be lossless.(should)

Advantages of Normalization
o Normalization helps to minimize data redundancy.
o Greater overall database organization.
o Data consistency within the database.
o Much more flexible database design.
o Enforces the concept of relational integrity.

Disadvantages of Normalization
o You cannot start building the database before knowing what the user needs.
o The performance degrades when normalizing the relations to higher normal
forms, i.e., 4NF, 5NF.
o It is very time-consuming and difficult to normalize relations of a higher
degree.
o Careless decomposition may lead to a bad database design, leading to serious
problems.

First Normal Form (1NF)

o A relation will be 1NF if it contains an atomic value.
o It states that an attribute of a table cannot hold multiple values. It must
hold only single-valued attribute.
o First normal form disallows the multi-valued attribute, composite attribute,
and their combinations.

Example: Relation EMPLOYEE is not in 1NF because of multi-valued attribute

EMP_PHONE.

EMPLOYEE table:

EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_PHONE EMP_STATE

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14 John 7272826385, UP
9064738238

20 Harry 8574783832 Bihar

12 Sam 7390372389, Punjab

8589830302

The decomposition of the EMPLOYEE table into 1NF has been shown below:

EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_PHONE EMP_STATE

14 John 7272826385 UP

14 John 9064738238 UP

20 Harry 8574783832 Bihar

12 Sam 7390372389 Punjab

12 Sam 8589830302 Punjab

Second Normal Form (2NF)

o In the 2NF, relational must be in 1NF.
o In the second normal form, all non-key attributes are fully functional
dependent on the primary key

Example: Let's assume, a school can store the data of teachers and the subjects
they teach. In a school, a teacher can teach more than one subject.

TEACHER table

TEACHER_ID SUBJECT TEACHER_AGE

25 Chemistry 30

25 Biology 30

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 47 English 35

83 Math 38

83 Computer 38

In the given table, non-prime attribute TEACHER_AGE is dependent on

TEACHER_ID which is a proper subset of a candidate key. That's why it violates the
rule for 2NF.

To convert the given table into 2NF, we decompose it into two tables:

TEACHER_DETAIL table:

TEACHER_ID TEACHER_AGE

25 30

47 35

83 38

TEACHER_SUBJECT table:

TEACHER_ID SUBJECT

25 Chemistry

25 Biology

47 English

83 Math

83 Computer

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Third Normal Form (3NF)
o A relation will be in 3NF if it is in 2NF and not contain any transitive partial
dependency.
o 3NF is used to reduce the data duplication. It is also used to achieve the data
integrity.
o If there is no transitive dependency for non-prime attributes, then the relation
must be in third normal form.

A relation is in third normal form if it holds atleast one of the following conditions for
every non-trivial function dependency X → Y.

1. X is a super key.
2. Y is a prime attribute, i.e., each element of Y is part of some candidate key.

Example:

EMPLOYEE_DETAIL table:

EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_ZIP EMP_STATE EMP_CITY

222 Harry 201010 UP Noida

333 Stephan 02228 US Boston

444 Lan 60007 US Chicago

555 Katharine 06389 UK Norwich

666 John 462007 MP Bhopal

Super key in the table above:

1. {EMP_ID}, {EMP_ID, EMP_NAME}, {EMP_ID, EMP_NAME, EMP_ZIP}....so on  

Candidate key: {EMP_ID}

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Non-prime attributes: In the given table, all attributes except EMP_ID are
non-prime.

Here, EMP_STATE & EMP_CITY dependent on EMP_ZIP and EMP_ZIP

dependent on EMP_ID. The non-prime attributes (EMP_STATE, EMP_CITY)
transitively dependent on super key(EMP_ID). It violates the rule of third
normal form.

That's why we need to move the EMP_CITY and EMP_STATE to the new
<EMPLOYEE_ZIP> table, with EMP_ZIP as a Primary key.

EMPLOYEE table:

EMP_ID EMP_NAME EMP_ZIP

222 Harry 201010

333 Stephan 02228

444 Lan 60007

555 Katharine 06389

666 John 462007

EMPLOYEE_ZIP table:

EMP_ZIP EMP_STATE EMP_CITY

201010 UP Noida

02228 US Boston

60007 US Chicago

06389 UK Norwich

462007 MP Bhopal

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 Boyce Codd normal form (BCNF)
o BCNF is the advance version of 3NF. It is stricter than 3NF.
o A table is in BCNF if every functional dependency X → Y, X is the super key
of the table.
o For BCNF, the table should be in 3NF, and for every FD, LHS is super key.

Example: Let's assume there is a company where employees work in more than one
department.

EMPLOYEE table:

EMP_ID EMP_COUNTRY EMP_DEPT DEPT_TYPE EMP_DEPT

264 India Designing D394 283

264 India Testing D394 300

364 UK Stores D283 232

364 UK Developing D283 549

In the above table Functional dependencies are as follows:

1. EMP_ID  →  EMP_COUNTRY  
2. EMP_DEPT  →   {DEPT_TYPE, EMP_DEPT_NO}  

Candidate key: {EMP-ID, EMP-DEPT}

The table is not in BCNF because neither EMP_DEPT nor EMP_ID alone are keys.

To convert the given table into BCNF, we decompose it into three tables:

EMP_COUNTRY table:

EMP_ID EMP_COUNTRY

264 India

264 India

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 EMP_DEPT table:

EMP_DEPT DEPT_TYPE EMP_DEPT_NO

Designing D394 283

Testing D394 300

Stores D283 232

Developing D283 549

EMP_DEPT_MAPPING table:

EMP_ID EMP_DEPT

D394 283

D394 300

D283 232

D283 549

Functional dependencies:

1. EMP_ID   →    EMP_COUNTRY  
2. EMP_DEPT   →   {DEPT_TYPE, EMP_DEPT_NO}  

Candidate keys:

For the first table: EMP_ID

For the second table: EMP_DEPT
For the third table: {EMP_ID, EMP_DEPT}

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Fourth normal form (4NF)
o A relation will be in 4NF if it is in Boyce Codd normal form and has no
multi-valued dependency.
o For a dependency A → B, if for a single value of A, multiple values of B
exists, then the relation will be a multi-valued dependency.

Example
STUDENT

STU_ID COURSE HOBBY

21 Computer Dancing

21 Math Singing

34 Chemistry Dancing

74 Biology Cricket

59 Physics Hockey

The given STUDENT table is in 3NF, but the COURSE and HOBBY are two
independent entity. Hence, there is no relationship between COURSE and HOBBY.

In the STUDENT relation, a student with STU_ID, 21 contains two

courses, Computer and Math and two hobbies, Dancing and Singing. So there
is a Multi-valued dependency on STU_ID, which leads to unnecessary repetition of
data.

So to make the above table into 4NF, we can decompose it into two tables:

STUDENT_COURSE

STU_ID COURSE

21 Computer

21 Math

14
34 Chemistry

74 Biology

59 Physics

STUDENT_HOBBY

STU_ID HOBBY

21 Dancing

21 Singing

34 Dancing

74 Cricket

59 Hockey

Next →← Prev

Fifth normal form (5NF)

o A relation is in 5NF if it is in 4NF and not contains any join dependency and
joining should be lossless.
o 5NF is satisfied when all the tables are broken into as many tables as
possible in order to avoid redundancy.
o 5NF is also known as Project-join normal form (PJ/NF).

Example

SUBJECT LECTURER SEMESTER

Computer Anshika Semester 1

Computer John Semester 1

Math John Semester 1

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 Math Akash Semester 2

Chemistry Praveen Semester 1

In the above table, John takes both Computer and Math class for Semester 1 but
he doesn't take Math class for Semester 2. In this case, combination of all these
fields required to identify a valid data.

Suppose we add a new Semester as Semester 3 but do not know about the
subject and who will be taking that subject so we leave Lecturer and Subject as
NULL. But all three columns together acts as a primary key, so we can't leave
other two columns blank.

So to make the above table into 5NF, we can decompose it into three relations
P1, P2 & P3:

P1

SEMESTER SUBJECT

Semester 1 Computer

Semester 1 Math

Semester 1 Chemistry

Semester 2 Math

P2

SUBJECT LECTURER

Computer Anshika

Computer John

Math John

Math Akash

Chemistry Praveen

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P3

SEMSTER LECTURER

Semester 1 Anshika

Semester 1 John

Semester 1 John

Semester 2 Akash

Semester 1 Praveen

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