TOPIC 6: NORMALIZATION

Meaning and importance of normalization

Database normalization is the process of organizing the fields and tables of a relational database
to minimize redundancy. Normalization usually involves dividing large tables into smaller (and
less redundant) tables and defining relationships between them.
Normalization of data can be defined as a process during which the existing tables of a database
are tested to find certain data dependency between the column and the rows or normalizing of
data can be referred to a formal technique of making preliminary data structures into an easy to
maintain and make efficient data structure With data normalization any table dependency
detected, the table is restructured into multiple tables (two tables) which eliminate any column
dependency. Incase data dependency is still exhibited the process is repeated till such
dependency are eliminated. The process of eliminating data redundancy is based upon a theory
called functional dependency
Normalization is the process of applying a number of rules to the tables, which have been
identified in order to simplify. The aim is to highlight dependencies between the various data
items so that we can reduce these dependencies.

Importance of normalization
 It highlights constraints and dependency in the data and hence aid the understanding the
nature of the data
 Normalization controls data redundancy to reduce storage requirement and standard
maintenance
 Normalization provide unique identification for records in a database
 Each stage of normalization process eliminate a particular type of undesirable
dependency
 Normalization permits simple data retrieval in response to reports and queries
 The third normalization form produces well designed database which provides a higher
degree of independency
 Normalization helps define efficient data structures

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  Normalized data structures are used for file and database design
 Normalization eliminate unnecessary dependency relationship within a database file

Normalization rules / forms of normalization

First normal form (1NF)

Refers to the first step where preliminary data structures are transforming into the first normal
form by eliminating any repeating sets of data elements. A relation table is said to be on the first
normal form, if and only if it contains no repeating groups that is it has no repeated value for a
particular attribute with a single record. Any repeated group of attribute is isolated to form a new
relation. In other words first normal form (1nf) means that a table has no multiple value attribute
or composite attribute, In the 1nf, each column holds one attribute and each row holds a single
occurrence of the entity
Second normal form (2NF)
2nf concentrated on records with concatenated keys, they check the non key attribute for
dependency on the entire key, and any data element that dependent only on part of the key is
moved to a new entity
A table is said to be in 2NF if and only if it is in 1NF and every non-key attribute is fully
dependent on the key attribute. Attributes not fully dependent should be isolated to form a new
entity.

Third normal form (3NF)

All data element in the third normal form must be a function of the key. To reach the 3nf, you
need to review the structure‘s non-key data elements and identify any data element dependent on
an attribute other than the key, if there is all these data elements should be moved to a new entity
A table is said to be in 3NF if and only if it is 2nd NF and every non-key attribute is not
dependent on any other non-key attribute. All non-key attributes that are dependent on other
non-key attributes, should be isolated to form a new entity

Fourth normal form (4NF)

In data normalization, the fourth normal form deals with data element with issues of multi- value
dependency (when one attributes determine another attribute sets). A relation is said to be in the
4nf formal form if and if only all existing multi-value dependency is converted into functional

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Dependency

Fifth normal form (5NF)

Here is where the join dependency is removed, the 5nf is also known as the projection join
normal form(PJNF), and refers to the separation of one relation into any sub-relations or having
sub-relations into one relation and can produce join dependencies

Performing normalization

While designing a database out of an entity–relationship model, the main problem existing in
that ―raw‖ database is redundancy. Redundancy is storing the same data item in more one place.
A redundancy creates several problems like the following:
1. Extra storage space: storing the same data in many places takes large amount of disk space.
2. Entering same data more than once during data insertion.
3. Deleting data from more than one place during deletion.
4. Modifying data in more than one place.
5. Anomalies may occur in the database if insertion, deletion, modification etc are no done
properly. It creates inconsistency and unreliability in the database.
To solve this problem, the ―raw‖ database needs to be normalized. This is a step by step process
of removing different kinds of redundancy and anomaly at each step. At each step a specific rule
is followed to remove specific kind of impurity in order to give the database a slim and clean
look.

Un-Normalized Form (UNF)

If a table contains non-atomic values at each row, it is said to be in UNF. An atomic value is
something that can not be further decomposed. A non-atomic value, as the name suggests, can be
further decomposed and simplified. Consider the following table:

Emp-Id Emp-Name month sales Bank-Id Bank-Name

E01 AA Jan 1000 B01 SBI
Feb 1200
Mar 850
E02 BB Jan 2200 B02 UTI
Feb 2500
E03 CC Jan 1700 B01 SBI

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 Feb 1800
Mar 1850
Apr 1725

In the sample table above, there are multiple occurrences of rows under each key Emp-Id.
Although considered to be the primary key, Emp-Id cannot give us the unique identification
facility for any single row. Further, each primary key points to a variable length record (3 for
E01, 2 for E02 and 4 for E03).
First Normal Form (1NF)
A relation is said to be in 1NF if it contains no non-atomic values and each row can provide a
unique combination of values. The above table in UNF can be processed to create the following
table in 1NF.

Emp-Id Emp-Name Month Sales Bank-Id Bank-Name

E01 AA Jan 1000 B01 SBI
E01 AA Feb 1200 B01 SBI
E01 AA Mar 850 B01 SBI
E02 BB Jan 2200 B02 UTI
E02 BB Feb 2500 B02 UTI
E03 CC Jan 1700 B01 SBI
E03 CC Feb 1800 B01 SBI
E03 CC Mar 1850 B01 SBI
E03 CC Apr 1725 B01 SBI

As you can see now, each row contains unique combination of values. Unlike in UNF, this
relation contains only atomic values, i.e. the rows cannot be further decomposed, so the relation
is now in 1NF. 563982 616733
Second Normal Form (2NF)
A relation is said to be in 2NF f if it is already in 1NF and each and every attribute fully depends
on the primary key of the relation. Speaking inversely, if a table has some attributes which is not
dependant on the primary key of that table, then it is not in 2NF.
Let us explain. Emp-Id is the primary key of the above relation. Emp-Name, Month, Sales and
Bank-Name all depend upon Emp-Id. But the attribute Bank-Name depends on Bank-Id, which

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is not the primary key of the table. So the table is in 1NF, but not in 2NF. If this position can be
removed into another related relation, it would come to 2NF.

Emp-Id Emp-Name Month Sales Bank-Id

E01 AA Jan 1000 B01
E01 AA Feb 1200 B01
E01 AA Mar 850 B01
E02 BB Jan 2200 B02
E02 BB Feb 2500 B02
E03 CC Jan 1700 B01
E03 CC Feb 1800 B01
E03 CC Mar 1850 B01
E03 CC Apr 1725 B01

Bank-Id Bank-Name
B01 SBI
B02 UTI

After removing the portion into another relation we store lesser amount of data in two relations
without any loss information. There is also a significant reduction in redundancy.
Third Normal Form (3NF)
A relation is said to be in 3NF, if it is already in 2NF and there exists no transitive dependency in
that relation. Speaking inversely, if a table contains transitive dependency, then it is not in 3NF,
and the table must be split to bring it into 3NF.
What is a transitive dependency? Within a relation if we see
A → B [B depends on A]
And
B → C [C depends on B]
Then we may derive
A → C[C depends on A]
Such derived dependencies hold well in most of the situations. For example if we have
Roll → Marks

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And
Marks → Grade
Then we may safely derive
Roll → Grade.
This third dependency was not originally specified but we have derived it.
The derived dependency is called a transitive dependency when such dependency becomes
improbable. For example we have been given
Roll → City
And
City → STDCode
If we try to derive Roll → STDCode it becomes a transitive dependency, because obviously the
STDCode of a city cannot depend on the roll number issued by a school or college. In such a
case the relation should be broken into two, each containing one of these two dependencies:
Roll → City
And
City → STD code
Boyce-Code Normal Form (BCNF)
A relationship is said to be in BCNF if it is already in 3NF and the left hand side of every
dependency is a candidate key. A relation which is in 3NF is almost always in BCNF. These
could be same situation when a 3NF relation may not be in BCNF the following conditions are
found true.
1. The candidate keys are composite.
2. There are more than one candidate keys in the relation.
3. There are some common attributes in the relation.

Professor Code Department Head of Dept Percent Time

P1 Physics Ghosh 50
P1 Mathematics Krishnan 50
P2 Chemistry Rao 25
P2 Physics Ghosh 75
P3 Mathematics Krishnan 100

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Consider, as an example, the above relation. It is assumed that:
1. A professor can work in more than one department
2. The percentage of the time he spends in each department is given.
3. Each department has only one Head of Department.
The relation diagram for the above relation is given as the following:

The given relation is in 3NF. Observe, however, that the names of Dept. and Head of Dept. are
duplicated. Further, if Professor P2 resigns, rows 3 and 4 are deleted. We lose the information
that Rao is the Head of Department of Chemistry.

The normalization of the relation is done by creating a new relation for Dept. and Head of Dept.
and deleting Head of Dept. form the given relation. The normalized relations are shown in the
following.

Professor Code Department Percent Time

P1 Physics 50
P1 Mathematics 50
P2 Chemistry 25
P2 Physics 75
P3 Mathematics 100

Department Head of Dept

Physics Ghosh

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 Mathematics Krishnan
Chemistry Rao

See the dependency diagrams for these new relations

Fourth Normal Form (4NF)

When attributes in a relation have multi-valued dependency, further Normalization to 4NF and
5NF are required. Let us first find out what multi-valued dependency is.
A multi-valued dependency is a typical kind of dependency in which each and every attribute
within a relation depends upon the other, yet none of them is a unique primary key.
We will illustrate this with an example. Consider a vendor supplying many items to many
projects in an organization. The following are the assumptions:
1. A vendor is capable of supplying many items.
2. A project uses many items.
3. A vendor supplies to many projects.
4. An item may be supplied by many vendors.

A multi valued dependency exists here because all the attributes depend upon the other and yet
none of them is a primary key having unique value.

Vendor Code Item Code Project No

V1 I1 P1
V1 I2 P1
V1 I1 P3
V1 I2 P3
V2 I2 P1
V2 I3 P1

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 V3 I1 P2
V3 I1 P3

The given relation has a number of problems. For example:

1. If vendor V1 has to supply to project P2, but the item is not yet decided, then a row with a blank
for item code has to be introduced.
2. The information about item I1 is stored twice for vendor V3.
Observe that the relation given is in 3NF and also in BCNF. It still has the problem mentioned
above. The problem is reduced by expressing this relation as two relations in the Fourth Normal
Form (4NF). A relation is in 4NF if it has no more than one independent multi valued
dependency or one independent multi valued dependency with a functional dependency.
The table can be expressed as the two 4NF relations given as following. The fact that vendors are
capable of supplying certain items and that they are assigned to supply for some projects in
independently specified in the 4NF relation.

Vendor – Supply Vendor-Project

Vendor Code Item Code Vendor Code Project No.

V1 I1 V1 P1
V1 I2 V1 P3
V2 I2 V2 P1
V2 I3 V3 P2
V3 I1 V3 P3

Fifth Normal Form (5NF)

These relations still have a problem. While defining the 4NF we mentioned that all the attributes
depend upon each other. While creating the two tables in the 4NF, although we have preserved
the dependencies between Vendor Code and Item code in the first table and Vendor Code and
Item code in the second table, we have lost the relationship between Item Code and Project No.
If there were a primary key then this loss of dependency would not have occurred. In order to
revive this relationship we must add a new table like the following. Please note that during the

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entire process of normalization, this is the only step where a new table is created by joining two
attributes, rather than splitting them into separate tables.

Project No. Item Code

PI I1
P1 I2
P2 I1
P3 I1
P3 I3

Let us finally summarize the normalization steps we have discussed so far.

Input Relation Transformation Output Relation
All Relation Eliminate variable length record. Remove multi-attribute lines in a 1NF
table
1NF Remove dependency of non-key attributes on part of multi-attributes 2NF
key
2NF Remove dependency of non-key attributes on other non – key attributes 3NF
3NF Remove dependency of an attribute of a multi-valued dependency from BCNF
relation by splitting relation
BCNF Remove more than one independent multi-valued dependency from 4NF
relation by splitting relation
4NF Add one relation relating attribute with multi-valued dependency 5NF

Revision quiz:
1. Table below is the un-normalized table used by a movie vendor to manager their movie
distribution. Normalize the table up to the third normal form (7marks) (2019July)
NAME PHYSICAL MOVIE TITLE TITLE
ADDRESS
Jean Zani Mashujaa Road The life of a Ms.
politician, bits and
bytes of computers
Sam Lemi Nairobi East Ways The valley of life, Mr.
Cutting the Roses

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 Sam Lemi Hills View ways Bits and Bytes of Mr.
Computers

2. With the aid of an example, explain the term functional dependency as used in database
normalization (3marks)
3. The following are two relations in a database named persons and orders. Use the
information to answer the questions that follows
Person table
P_Id LastName FirstName Address City
1 James Katute 15 Streets Nairobi
2 Smith Nekesa 10 Avenue Nairobi
3 Kristen Oliya Makuba street Kiambu

Orders table
O_Id OrderNo P_Id
1 77895 2
3 22456 2
4 24562 1
i) With the aid of ana example from the table explain the foreign key constraints in
the database (3marks) (2019 July)

4. Differentiate between Superkey and candidate key as used in database management

systems (4marks) (2018N)
5. Outline three characteristics of First Normal Form (1NF) (3marks) (2018Nov)
6. Explain each of the following anormalies in normalization
i) Update
ii) Deletion (4marks) (2018Nov)
7. Table below shows information contained in a database table. Use it to answer the
questions that follows
Roll_No Name Subject
101 John OS, CN

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 103 Jeremy Java
102 Jacob C, C++

Normalize the table above to the second normal form (7marks) (2018Nov)
8. The table below is an employee table represented in 1NF. Use it to answer the questions
that follow
Employee Contract No Hours Employee Company ID Company
ID Name Location
616681B SC1025 72 P.White SC115 Nairobi
674315A SC1025 48 R.Press SC115 Nairobi
323113B SC1026 24 P.Smith SC23 Nairobi
616687B SC1026 24 P.White SC23 Nairobi
Represent the table in its 3NF (8marks) (2017Nov)

9. Describe each of the following types of functional dependency

i) Fully Functional
ii) Transitive (4marks)(2017Nov)
10. Define each of the following terms as used in databases
i) Normalization
ii) Compound Key (4marks) (2017July)
11. The table below shows unnormalized table. State a step by step process of normalizing to
3NF (9marks)(2017July)

12. The table below shows students results slip. Use it to answer the question that follows

Student No: 1022567

Student Name: Alex James
Course Code:F105
Course Title: ICT
Subject Subject Title Number Grade Result Results
Code of Hours code

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 Bus 119 Business 20 10 PA01 Pass
operations
Com110 Introduction 20 8 PA02 Pass
to computers
Com112 Application 20 2 RE01 Refer Exam
Developmen
t
Com114 HCI 10 7 RE01 Refer Exam

Normalize to 3NF-

13.

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