Chapter 14

Normalization
Purpose of Normalization
• Normalization is a technique for producing a
set of suitable relations that support the data
requirements of an enterprise.

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Purpose of Normalization
• Characteristics of a suitable set of relations
include:
– the minimal number of attributes necessary to
support the data requirements of the enterprise;
– attributes with a close logical relationship are
found in the same relation;
– minimal redundancy with each attribute
represented only once with the important
exception of attributes that form all or part of
foreign keys.
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Purpose of Normalization
• The benefits of using a database that has a
suitable set of relations is that the database
will be:
– easier for the user to access and maintain the
data;
– take up minimal storage space on the computer.

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How Normalization Supports Database Design

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Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies
• Major aim of relational database design is to
group attributes into relations to minimize data
redundancy.

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Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies
• Potential benefits for implemented database
include:
– Updates to the data stored in the database are
achieved with a minimal number of operations
thus reducing the opportunities for data
inconsistencies.
– Reduction in the file storage space required by the
base relations thus minimizing costs.

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Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies
• Problems associated with data redundancy are
illustrated by comparing the Staff and Branch
relations with the StaffBranch relation.

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Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies

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Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies
• StaffBranch relation has redundant data; the
details of a branch are repeated for every
member of staff.
• In contrast, the branch information appears only
once for each branch in the Branch relation and
only the branch number (branchNo) is repeated
in the Staff relation, to represent where each
member of staff is located.

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Data Redundancy and Update Anomalies
• Relations that contain redundant information
may potentially suffer from update anomalies.

• Types of update anomalies include

– Insertion
– Deletion
– Modification

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Lossless-join and Dependency Preservation
Properties
• Two important properties of decomposition.
– Lossless-join property enables us to find any
instance of the original relation from
corresponding instances in the smaller relations.
– Dependency preservation property enables us to
enforce a constraint on the original relation by
enforcing some constraint on each of the smaller
relations.

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Functional Dependencies
• Important concept associated with
normalization.
• Functional dependency describes relationship
between attributes.
• For example, if A and B are attributes of relation
R, B is functionally dependent on A (denoted A
 B), if each value of A in R is associated with
exactly one value of B in R.

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Characteristics of Functional Dependencies
• Property of the meaning or semantics of the
attributes in a relation.
• Diagrammatic representation.

• The determinant of a functional dependency

refers to the attribute or group of attributes on
the left-hand side of the arrow.
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An Example Functional Dependency

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Example Functional Dependency that holds
for all Time
• Consider the values shown in staffNo and sName
attributes of the Staff relation (see Slide 9).
• Based on sample data, the following functional
dependencies appear to hold.

staffNo → sName
sName → staffNo

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Example Functional Dependency that holds
for all Time
• However, the only functional dependency that
remains true for all possible values for the
staffNo and sName attributes of the Staff
relation is:

staffNo → sName

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Characteristics of Functional Dependencies
• Determinants should have the minimal number
of attributes necessary to maintain the
functional dependency with the attribute(s) on
the right hand-side.

• This requirement is called full functional

dependency.

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Characteristics of Functional Dependencies
• Full functional dependency indicates that if A
and B are attributes of a relation, B is fully
functionally dependent on A, if B is functionally
dependent on A, but not on any proper subset of
A.

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Example Full Functional Dependency
• Exists in the Staff relation
staffNo, sName → branchNo

• True - each value of (staffNo, sName) is

associated with a single value of branchNo.
• However, branchNo is also functionally
dependent on a subset of (staffNo, sName),
namely staffNo. Example above is a partial
dependency.
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Characteristics of Functional Dependencies
• Main characteristics of functional dependencies
used in normalization:
– There is a one-to-one relationship between the
attribute(s) on the left-hand side (determinant)
and those on the right-hand side of a functional
dependency.
– Holds for all time.
– The determinant has the minimal number of
attributes necessary to maintain the dependency
with the attribute(s) on the right hand-side.
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Transitive Dependencies
• Important to recognize a transitive dependency
because its existence in a relation can potentially
cause update anomalies.

• Transitive dependency describes a condition

where A, B, and C are attributes of a relation
such that if A → B and B → C, then C is
transitively dependent on A via B (provided that
A is not functionally dependent on B or C).

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Example Transitive Dependency
• Consider functional dependencies in the
StaffBranch relation (see Slide 12).

staffNo → sName, position, salary, branchNo,

bAddress
branchNo → bAddress

• Transitive dependency, branchNo → bAddress

exists on staffNo via branchNo.
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The Process of Normalization
• Formal technique for analyzing a relation based
on its primary key and the functional
dependencies between the attributes of that
relation.

• Often executed as a series of steps. Each step

corresponds to a specific normal form, which has
known properties.

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Identifying Functional Dependencies
• Identifying all functional dependencies between
a set of attributes is relatively simple if the
meaning of each attribute and the relationships
between the attributes are well understood.

• This information should be provided by the

enterprise in the form of discussions with users
and/or documentation such as the users’
requirements specification.

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Identifying Functional Dependencies
• However, if the users are unavailable for
consultation and/or the documentation is
incomplete then depending on the database
application it may be necessary for the database
designer to use their common sense and/or
experience to provide the missing information.

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Example - Identifying a set of functional dependencies
for the StaffBranch relation
• Examine semantics of attributes in StaffBranch
relation (see Slide 12). Assume that position held
and branch determine a member of staff’s salary.

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Example - Identifying a set of functional dependencies
for the StaffBranch relation
• With sufficient information available, identify
the functional dependencies for the StaffBranch
relation as:
staffNo → sName, position, salary, branchNo,
bAddress
branchNo → bAddress
bAddress → branchNo
branchNo, position → salary
bAddress, position → salary
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Example - Using sample data to identify
functional dependencies.
• Consider the data for attributes denoted A, B, C,
D, and E in the Sample relation (see Slide 33).

• Important to establish that sample data values

shown in relation are representative of all
possible values that can be held by attributes A,
B, C, D, and E. Assume true despite the relatively
small amount of data shown in this relation.

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Example - Using sample data to identify
functional dependencies.

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Example - Using sample data to identify
functional dependencies.
• Function dependencies between attributes A to
E in the Sample relation.

AC (fd1)
CA (fd2)
B D (fd3)
A, B  E (fd4)

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Identifying the Primary Key for a Relation using
Functional Dependencies
• Main purpose of identifying a set of functional
dependencies for a relation is to specify the set
of integrity constraints that must hold on a
relation.

• An important integrity constraint to consider

first is the identification of candidate keys, one
of which is selected to be the primary key for the
relation.

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Example - Identify Primary Key for StaffBranch
Relation
• StaffBranch relation has five functional
dependencies
• The determinants are staffNo, branchNo,
bAddress, (branchNo, position), and (bAddress,
position).

• To identify all candidate key(s), identify the

attribute (or group of attributes) that uniquely
identifies each tuple in this relation.
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Example - Identifying Primary Key for
StaffBranch Relation
• All attributes that are not part of a candidate
key should be functionally dependent on the
key.

• The only candidate key and therefore primary

key for StaffBranch relation, is staffNo, as all
other attributes of the relation are
functionally dependent on staffNo.

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Example - Identifying Primary Key for Sample
Relation
• Sample relation has four functional dependencies
• The determinants in the Sample relation are A, B, C,
and (A, B). However, the only determinant that
functionally determines all the other attributes of the
relation is (A, B).

• (A, B) is identified as the primary key for this relation.

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The Process of Normalization
• As normalization proceeds, the relations
become progressively more restricted (stronger)
in format and also less vulnerable to update
anomalies.

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The Process of Normalization

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The Process of Normalization

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Unnormalized Form (UNF)
• A table that contains one or more repeating
groups.

• To create an unnormalized table

– Transform the data from the information source
(e.g. form) into table format with columns and
rows.

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First Normal Form (1NF)
• A relation in which the intersection of each
row and column contains one and only one
value.

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UNF to 1NF
• Nominate an attribute or group of attributes
to act as the key for the unnormalized table.

• Identify the repeating group(s) in the

unnormalized table which repeats for the key
attribute(s).

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UNF to 1NF
• Remove the repeating group by
– Entering appropriate data into the empty
columns of rows containing the repeating data
(‘flattening’ the table).
– Or by
– Placing the repeating data along with a copy of
the original key attribute(s) into a separate
relation.

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Second Normal Form (2NF)
• Based on the concept of full functional
dependency.

• Full functional dependency indicates that if

– A and B are attributes of a relation,
– B is fully dependent on A if B is functionally
dependent on A but not on any proper subset of
A.

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Second Normal Form (2NF)
• A relation that is in 1NF and every non-
primary-key attribute is fully functionally
dependent on the primary key.

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1NF to 2NF
• Identify the primary key for the 1NF relation.

• Identify the functional dependencies in the

relation.

• If partial dependencies exist on the primary

key remove them by placing then in a new
relation along with a copy of their
determinant.
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Third Normal Form (3NF)

• Based on the concept of transitive

dependency.

• Transitive Dependency is a condition where

– A, B and C are attributes of a relation such that
if A  B and B  C,
– then C is transitively dependent on A through
B. (Provided that A is not functionally
dependent on B or C).
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Third Normal Form (3NF)
• A relation that is in 1NF and 2NF and in which
no non-primary-key attribute is transitively
dependent on the primary key.

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2NF to 3NF
• Identify the primary key in the 2NF relation.

• Identify functional dependencies in the

relation.

• If transitive dependencies exist on the primary

key remove them by placing them in a new
relation along with a copy of their dominant.

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General Definitions of 2NF and 3NF
• Second normal form (2NF)
– A relation that is in first normal form and every
non-primary-key attribute is fully functionally
dependent on any candidate key.

• Third normal form (3NF)

– A relation that is in first and second normal
form and in which no non-primary-key attribute
is transitively dependent on any candidate key.

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