Database Modeling Using the

Entity-Relationship Model
(Chapter 3)

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Entity-Relationship Model
E-R model was introduced by Peter Chen in
1976
It is a graphical approach to database
modeling.
It describes data as entities, relationships
and attributes.
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Elements of ER Model
Key elements:

Entities
Attributes
Relationships
Identifiers

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Entities
An entity is the basic object that the E-R
model represents
An entity is something that can be identified
in real world.
Examples
Peter Johns, MIS, 12345
May Carson, CS, 67890
Dee Conway, 1134, CS, Prof.

Entities of a given type are grouped into

entity classes.
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Entities (2)
Name
Peter Johns
May Carson

FACULTY

Major
MIS
CS

Name StaffID
Dee Conway

Year
2
1

ID
12345
67890

Dept
CS

Post
Prof

Entity Instances

Entity Class

STUDENT

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Attributes
Entities have attributes that describe the
entitys characteristics.
Types of attributes: single-valued, multivalued, composite. Example are:
Single-value: Year 2
Multi-valued: {MIS, Marketing}
Composite: (FirstName, LastName)
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Relationships
A relationship indicated how one or more
entity classes interact with one and another.
Each entity plays a role in a relationship.
Degree of the relationship: number of
entities in a relationship.
Understanding the relationship is important
because it will affect how the database is
constructed and used.
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E-R Concepts
entity type = entity class = entity
entity instance = entity occurrence = record
entity type: a set of objects in the real world
with the same properties (not the same
values) with a physical or conceptual
existence
entity instance: each entity has its own
values for each attribute
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Basic E-R Notation

Entity

Attribute

Weak Entity

Multivalued Attribute

Relationship

Derived Attribute

Identifying Relationship
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Basic E-R Notation

Relationship degree

Unary

Binary

Ternary

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E-R Model Constructs

Strong versus Weak Entity Type

Independent versus dependent entity

Identifying owner
Identifying relationship
Weak entity identifier is its partial identifier
combined with that of its owner.

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E-R Model Constructs

Attribute - property or characteristic of an
entity type
Simple versus Composite Attribute
Single-valued versus Multivalued Attribute
Stored versus Derived Attributes.

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Composite Attribute
Address

Street

City

State

Zip

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Entity with multivalued attribute (Skills) and

derived attribute (Years_Employed)
Employee_ID

Years_Employed

Name

EMPLOYEE

Address

Skills

Date_Employed
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Simple and composite Key attributes

(a) Simple key attribute
Student_Name
SSN

Other_Attributes

STUDENT

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Simple and composite Key attributes

(a) Composite key attribute
Flight_No

Date

Number_of_Passengers

Flight_ID
FLIGHT
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Stored vs Derived Attributes

Derived attribute: the value of an attribute is derived from
something else
LName

FName
Name
Tel

STUDENT

SSN

DOB
Age

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Derived Attributes
Example 1: Age = today date - DOB
Example 2: total number of staff can be
calculated by counting the total number of
staff entity instances.
Example 3: deposit = 2 * rent

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How to Interpret this Model

Branch_No
Total_
Branch

BRANCH

Tel_No
Fax_No

Address
Street

ZipCode
City
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E-R Model Constructs

Identifier or Key - An attribute (or
combination of attributes) that uniquely
identifies individual instances of an entity
type.
Simple Key versus Composite Key
Candidate Key
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E-R Model Constructs

Criteria for selecting Identifiers
Will not change value
Will not be null
No intelligent identifiers (containing e.g.
locations or people that might change)
Substitute new, simple keys for long, composite
key.
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Relationships
Definition: a meaningful association among
entity classes.
Meaningful implies that the relationship
allows us to answer questions that could not
be answered given only the entity classes.
In general, any number of entity classes
may participate in a relationship.
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Relationships
Relationship type versus Instance
Degree of Relationship - number of entity
types that participate in it
A relationship is represented by a diamond
in the diagram with lines linking to the
corresponding entity classes.

CourseId

Professors
name

teaching

Courses
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Relationship Set
Think of the value of relationship set as a table
One column for each of the connected entity sets.
One row for each list of entities, one from each set,
which is connected by the relationship.
Professors

Courses

Holmes

COP3337

Barton

COP4610

Milani

COP4010

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Relationships
Degree of Relationship
Unary Relationship
Binary Relationship
Ternary Relationship

Attributes of Relationship
Many to Many

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Relationships of different degrees

(a) Unary relationships
N

1
PERSON

Is_married_to

EMPLOYEE

Manages

1
One-to-one

1
One-to-many
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Role Names
Unary relationship: the same entity class
participates more than once in different
roles.
Supervisor

1
Supervises

EMP
Supervisee

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(b) Binary relationships

EMPLOYEE

Assigned

PARKING PLACE

One-to-one
PRODUCT LINE

Contains

PRODUCT

One-to-many

STUDENT

Registers N
Many-to-many

COURSE
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Role Names
Role names may also be used when two
entity classes are associated through more
than one relationships
manager

Manages

EMP

DEPT

member
of staff

Works_in

1
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Multiway relationship
Usually binary relationships (connecting two
E.S.) suffice.
However, there are some cases where three or
more E.S. must be connected by one
relationship.
Example: relationship among students,
courses, TA's.
Students

taking

N
N

Courses

assisting

1
TAs

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Multiway relationship
What if students are divided into sections, each
headed by a TA?
A student would be related to only one of the TA's
for the course. Which one?

Need a 3-way relationship to tell.

Courses

Students
M

N
Enrolls
1
TAs
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Attributes on Relationships
price
Beers

Bars
sells

Because the price jointly depends on beer and bar,

it is actually a shorthand for 3-way relationship
price
Prices
Beers

Bars
sells

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Converting multiway to 2-way

Any relationship with more than two E.S.
can be converted to a collection binary
many-to-one relationships without losing
any information.
Steps:
Create a new connecting entity set.
Introduce many-to-one relationships from the
connecting entity set to each of the entity sets
(or roles) involved.
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price

Bars

Prices

Beers

The
Bar

The
Price

The
Beer

BBP
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4-nary Relationship
SOLICITOR

BUYER

Arranges

FINANCIAL_
INSTITUTION

BID
A buyer, advised by a solicitor, and supported by a financial
institution, places a bid for a property.
A simultaneous relationship among four instances.
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