Chapter- 7

DATABASE NORMALIZATION

Keys

o Keys play an important role in the relational database.

o It is used to uniquely identify any record or row of data from the table. It is also used
to establish and identify relationships between tables.

For example: In Student table, ID is used as a key because it is unique for each student. In
PERSON table, passport_number, license_number, SSN are keys since they are unique for
each person.

Types of key:

1. Primary key
o It is the first key which is used to identify one and only one instance of an entity
uniquely. An entity can contain multiple keys as we saw in PERSON table. The key
which is most suitable from those lists become a primary key.
 o In the EMPLOYEE table, ID can be primary key since it is unique for each employee.
In the EMPLOYEE table, we can even select License_Number and Passport_Number
as primary key since they are also unique.
o For each entity, selection of the primary key is based on requirement and developers.

2. Candidate key
o A candidate key is an attribute or set of an attribute which can uniquely identify a
tuple.
o The remaining attributes except for primary key are considered as a candidate key.
The candidate keys are as strong as the primary key.

For example: In the EMPLOYEE table, id is best suited for the primary key. Rest of the
attributes like SSN, Passport_Number, and License_Number, etc. are considered as a
candidate key.

3. Super Key

Super key is a set of an attribute which can uniquely identify a tuple. Super key is a superset
of a candidate key.
For example: In the above EMPLOYEE table, for(EMPLOEE_ID, EMPLOYEE_NAME)
the name of two employees can be the same, but their EMPLYEE_ID can't be the same.
Hence, this combination can also be a key.

The super key would be EMPLOYEE-ID, (EMPLOYEE_ID, EMPLOYEE-NAME), etc.

4. Foreign key
o Foreign keys are the column of the table which is used to point to the primary key of
another table.
o In a company, every employee works in a specific department, and employee and
department are two different entities. So we can't store the information of the
department in the employee table. That's why we link these two tables through the
primary key of one table.
o We add the primary key of the DEPARTMENT table, Department_Id as a new
attribute in the EMPLOYEE table.
o Now in the EMPLOYEE table, Department_Id is the foreign key, and both the tables
are related.

Well-Structured Relations

• A relation that contains minimal data redundancy and allows users to insert, delete, and
update rows without causing data inconsistencies

• Goal is to avoid (minimize) anomalies

– Insertion Anomaly – adding new rows forces user to create duplicate data

– Deletion Anomaly – deleting a row may cause loss of other data representing completely
different facts

– Modification Anomaly – changing data in a row forces changes to other rows because of
duplication
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 the undesirable characteristics like Insertion, Update and
Deletion Anomalies.
o Normalization divides the larger table into the smaller table and links them using
relationship.
o The normal form is used to reduce redundancy from the database table.

Types of Normal Forms

There are the four types of normal forms:

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

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

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.

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:

Emp_Id → Emp_Name

We can say that Emp_Name is functionally dependent on Emp_Id.

Types of Functional dependency

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 dependency as
3. Employee_Id is a subset of {Employee_Id, Employee_Name}.
4. Also, Employee_Id → Employee_Id and Employee_Name → Employee_Name are 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:
ID → Name,
Name → DOB
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

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
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}

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

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.

EMP_ID EMP_COUNTRY EMP_DEPT DEPT_TYPE EMP_DEPT_NO

264 India Designing D394 283

 264 India Testing D394 300

364 UK Stores D283 232

364 UK Developing D283 549

EMPLOYEE Table:

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

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:
EMP_ID → EMP_COUNTRY
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}

Now, this is in BCNF because left side part of both the functional dependencies is a key.

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

34 Chemistry

74 Biology

59 Physics

STUDENT_HOBBY

STU_ID HOBBY

21 Dancing

21 Singing

34 Dancing
74 Cricket

59 Hockey