ER Model

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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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:
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)
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.
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.
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.

ER Model

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ER model

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

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

The key attribute is used to represent the main characteristics of an entity. It

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

For example: In the above EMPLOYEE table, for(EMPLOEE_ID, EMPLOYEE_NAME)

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

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