ER model

o ER model stands for an Entity-Relationship model. It is a high-level data model.

This model is used to define the data elements and relationship for a specified
system.
o It develops a conceptual design for the database. It also develops a very simple
and easy to design view of data.
o In ER modeling, the database structure is portrayed as a diagram called an entity-
relationship diagram.

For example, Suppose we design a school database. In this database, the student will
be an entity with attributes like address, name, id, age, etc. The address can be another
entity with attributes like city, street name, pin code, etc and there will be a relationship
between them.

Component of ER Diagram

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1. Entity:
An entity may be any object, class, person or place. In the ER diagram, an entity can be
represented as rectangles.

Consider an organization as an example- manager, product, employee, department etc.

can be taken as an entity.

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a. Weak Entity

An entity that depends on another entity called a weak entity. The weak entity doesn't
contain any key attribute of its own. The weak entity is represented by a double
rectangle.

2. Attribute
The attribute is used to describe the property of an entity. Eclipse is used to represent
an attribute.

For example, id, age, contact number, name, etc. can be attributes of a student.

a. Key Attribute

The key attribute is used to represent the main characteristics of an entity. It represents
a primary key. The key attribute is represented by an ellipse with the text underlined.

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b. Composite Attribute

An attribute that composed of many other attributes is known as a composite attribute.

The composite attribute is represented by an ellipse, and those ellipses are connected
with an ellipse.

c. Multivalued Attribute

An attribute can have more than one value. These attributes are known as a multivalued
attribute. The double oval is used to represent multivalued attribute.

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For example, a student can have more than one phone number.

d. Derived Attribute

An attribute that can be derived from other attribute is known as a derived attribute. It
can be represented by a dashed ellipse.

For example, A person's age changes over time and can be derived from another
attribute like Date of birth.

3. Relationship
A relationship is used to describe the relation between entities. Diamond or rhombus is
used to represent the relationship.

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Types of relationship are as follows:

a. One-to-One Relationship

When only one instance of an entity is associated with the relationship, then it is known
as one to one relationship.

For example, A female can marry to one male, and a male can marry to one female.

b. One-to-many relationship

When only one instance of the entity on the left, and more than one instance of an
entity on the right associates with the relationship then this is known as a one-to-many
relationship.

For example, Scientist can invent many inventions, but the invention is done by the
only specific scientist.

c. Many-to-one relationship

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When more than one instance of the entity on the left, and only one instance of an
entity on the right associates with the relationship then it is known as a many-to-one
relationship.

For example, Student enrolls for only one course, but a course can have many students.

d. Many-to-many relationship

When more than one instance of the entity on the left, and more than one instance of
an entity on the right associates with the relationship then it is known as a many-to-
many relationship.

For example, Employee can assign by many projects and project can have many
employees.

Notation of ER diagram
Database can be represented using the notations. In ER diagram, many notations are
used to express the cardinality. These notations are as follows:

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Fig: Notations of ER diagram

Mapping Constraints
o A mapping constraint is a data constraint that expresses the number of entities to
which another entity can be related via a relationship set.
o It is most useful in describing the relationship sets that involve more than two
entity sets.
o For binary relationship set R on an entity set A and B, there are four possible
mapping cardinalities. These are as follows:
1. One to one (1:1)
2. One to many (1:M)
3. Many to one (M:1)
4. Many to many (M:M)

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One-to-one
In one-to-one mapping, an entity in E1 is associated with at most one entity in E2, and
an entity in E2 is associated with at most one entity in E1.

One-to-many
In one-to-many mapping, an entity in E1 is associated with any number of entities in E2,
and an entity in E2 is associated with at most one entity in E1.

Many-to-one
In one-to-many mapping, an entity in E1 is associated with at most one entity in E2, and
an entity in E2 is associated with any number of entities in E1.

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Many-to-many
In many-to-many mapping, an entity in E1 is associated with any number of entities in
E2, and an entity in E2 is associated with any number of entities in E1.

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

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Types of keys:

1. Primary key

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

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2. Candidate key

o A candidate key is an attribute or set of attributes that can uniquely identify a

tuple.
o Except for the primary key, the remaining attributes are considered 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. The rest of
the attributes, like SSN, Passport_Number, License_Number, etc., are considered a
candidate key.

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3. Super Key
Super key is an attribute set that can uniquely identify a tuple. A 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

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 o Foreign keys are the column of the table used to point to the primary key of
another table.
o Every employee works in a specific department in a company, and employee and
department are two different entities. So we can't store the department's
information 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 In the EMPLOYEE table, Department_Id is the foreign key, and both the tables are
related.

5. Alternate key
There may be one or more attributes or a combination of attributes that uniquely
identify each tuple in a relation. These attributes or combinations of the attributes are
called the candidate keys. One key is chosen as the primary key from these candidate
keys, and the remaining candidate key, if it exists, is termed the alternate key. In other
words, the total number of the alternate keys is the total number of candidate keys
minus the primary key. The alternate key may or may not exist. If there is only one
candidate key in a relation, it does not have an alternate key.

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For example, employee relation has two attributes, Employee_Id and PAN_No, that act
as candidate keys. In this relation, Employee_Id is chosen as the primary key, so the
other candidate key, PAN_No, acts as the Alternate key.

6. Composite key
Whenever a primary key consists of more than one attribute, it is known as a composite
key. This key is also known as Concatenated Key.

For example, in employee relations, we assume that an employee may be assigned

multiple roles, and an employee may work on multiple projects simultaneously. So the
primary key will be composed of all three attributes, namely Emp_ID, Emp_role, and
Proj_ID in combination. So these attributes act as a composite key since the primary key
comprises more than one attribute.

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7. Artificial key
The key created using arbitrarily assigned data are known as artificial keys. These keys
are created when a primary key is large and complex and has no relationship with many
other relations. The data values of the artificial keys are usually numbered in a serial
order.

For example, the primary key, which is composed of Emp_ID, Emp_role, and Proj_ID, is
large in employee relations. So it would be better to add a new virtual attribute to
identify each tuple in the relation uniquely.

Generalization
o Generalization is like a bottom-up approach in which two or more entities of
lower level combine to form a higher level entity if they have some attributes in
common.
o In generalization, an entity of a higher level can also combine with the entities of
the lower level to form a further higher level entity.
o Generalization is more like subclass and superclass system, but the only
difference is the approach. Generalization uses the bottom-up approach.
o In generalization, entities are combined to form a more generalized entity, i.e.,
subclasses are combined to make a superclass.

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For example, Faculty and Student entities can be generalized and create a higher level
entity Person.

Specialization
o Specialization is a top-down approach, and it is opposite to Generalization. In
specialization, one higher level entity can be broken down into two lower level
entities.
o Specialization is used to identify the subset of an entity set that shares some
distinguishing characteristics.
o Normally, the superclass is defined first, the subclass and its related attributes are
defined next, and relationship set are then added.

For example: In an Employee management system, EMPLOYEE entity can be specialized

as TESTER or DEVELOPER based on what role they play in the company.

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Aggregation
In aggregation, the relation between two entities is treated as a single entity. In
aggregation, relationship with its corresponding entities is aggregated into a higher
level entity.

For example: Center entity offers the Course entity act as a single entity in the
relationship which is in a relationship with another entity visitor. In the real world, if a
visitor visits a coaching center then he will never enquiry about the Course only or just
about the Center instead he will ask the enquiry about both.

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Reduction of ER diagram to Table
The database can be represented using the notations, and these notations can be
reduced to a collection of tables.

In the database, every entity set or relationship set can be represented in tabular form.

The ER diagram is given below:

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There are some points for converting the ER diagram to the table:

o Entity type becomes a table.

In the given ER diagram, LECTURE, STUDENT, SUBJECT and COURSE forms individual
tables.

o All single-valued attribute becomes a column for the table.

In the STUDENT entity, STUDENT_NAME and STUDENT_ID form the column of STUDENT
table. Similarly, COURSE_NAME and COURSE_ID form the column of COURSE table and
so on.

o A key attribute of the entity type represented by the primary key.

In the given ER diagram, COURSE_ID, STUDENT_ID, SUBJECT_ID, and LECTURE_ID are the
key attribute of the entity.

o The multivalued attribute is represented by a separate table.

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In the student table, a hobby is a multivalued attribute. So it is not possible to represent
multiple values in a single column of STUDENT table. Hence we create a table
STUD_HOBBY with column name STUDENT_ID and HOBBY. Using both the column, we
create a composite key.

o Composite attribute represented by components.

In the given ER diagram, student address is a composite attribute. It contains CITY, PIN,
DOOR#, STREET, and STATE. In the STUDENT table, these attributes can merge as an
individual column.

o Derived attributes are not considered in the table.

In the STUDENT table, Age is the derived attribute. It can be calculated at any point of
time by calculating the difference between current date and Date of Birth.

Using these rules, you can convert the ER diagram to tables and columns and assign the
mapping between the tables. Table structure for the given ER diagram is as below:

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