Relationship Type and Relationship Set

 A Relationship Type represents the association between entity types.

 For example, ‘Enrolled in’ is a relationship type that exists between entity type Student
and Course.
 In ER diagram, the relationship type is represented by a diamond and connecting the
entities with lines.

Entity-Relationship Set

A set of relationships of the same type is known as a relationship set. The following
relationship set depicts S1 as enrolled in C2, S2 as enrolled in C1, and S3 as registered in C3.

Relationship Set

Degree of a Relationship Set

The number of different entity sets participating in a relationship set is called the degree of a
relationship set.
1. Unary Relationship: When there is only ONE entity set participating in a relation, the
relationship is called a unary relationship. For example, one person is married to only one
person.
 Unary Relationship

2. Binary Relationship: When there are TWO entities set participating in a relationship, the
relationship is called a binary relationship. For example, a Student is enrolled in a Course.

Binary Relationship

3. Ternary Relationship: When there are n entities set participating in a relation, the
relationship is called an n-ary relationship.
Cardinality
The number of times an entity of an entity set participates in a relationship set is known
as cardinality. Cardinality can be of different types:
1. One-to-One: When each entity in each entity set can take part only once in the
relationship, the cardinality is one-to-one.

one to one cardinality

2. One-to-Many: In one-to-many mapping as well where each entity can be related to more
than one entity and the total number of tables that can be used in this is 2. Let us assume that
one surgeon department can accommodate many doctors. So the Cardinality will be 1 to M. It
means one department has many Doctors.
 one to many cardinality

3. Many-to-One: When entities in one entity set can take part only once in the relationship set
and entities in other entity sets can take part more than once in the relationship set, cardinality
is many to one. Let us assume that a student can take only one course but one course can be
taken by many students. So the cardinality will be n to 1. It means that for one course there can
be n students but for one student, there will be only one course.
The total number of tables that can be used in this is 3.

many to one cardinality

4. Many-to-Many: When entities in all entity sets can take part more than once in the
relationship cardinality is many to many. Let us assume that a student can take more than one
course and one course can be taken by many students. So the relationship will be many to
many.

many to many cardinality

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.

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.
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.

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.

4. Foreign key

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.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.
Integrity Constraints
o Integrity constraints are a set of rules. It is used to maintain the quality of information.
o Integrity constraints ensure that the data insertion, updating, and other processes have to
be performed in such a way that data integrity is not affected.
o Thus, integrity constraint is used to guard against accidental damage to the database.

Types of Integrity Constraint

1. Domain constraints

o Domain constraints can be defined as the definition of a valid set of values for an attribute.
o The data type of domain includes string, character, integer, time, date, currency, etc. The
value of the attribute must be available in the corresponding domain.

Example:
2. Entity integrity constraints

o The entity integrity constraint states that primary key value can't be null.
o This is because the primary key value is used to identify individual rows in relation and if the
primary key has a null value, then we can't identify those rows.
o A table can contain a null value other than the primary key field.

Example:

3. Referential Integrity Constraints

o A referential integrity constraint is specified between two tables.

o In the Referential integrity constraints, if a foreign key in Table 1 refers to the Primary Key of
Table 2, then every value of the Foreign Key in Table 1 must be null or be available in Table
2.

Example:

4. Key constraints
 o Keys are the entity set that is used to identify an entity within its entity set uniquely.
o An entity set can have multiple keys, but out of which one key will be the primary key. A
primary key can contain a unique and null value in the relational table.

Example:

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

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

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.

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.

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 functional dependent on the primary key.

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

exists.

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

Second Normal Form (2NF)

o n 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