Lecture Dependencies

Dependencies in DBMS
Dependency
A dependency occurs in a
database when information
stored in the same database
table uniquely determines
other information stored in
the same table.
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.
Given a relation R, a set of attributes X in R is said to
functionally determine another attribute Y, also in R,
(written X → Y) if and only if each X value is associated with
at most one Y value.
An attribute is functionally dependent on another if we
can use the value of one attribute to determine the
value of another.
We use the arrow symbol → to indicate a functional
dependency. X → Y is read X functionally determines Y
X is the determinant set and Y is the dependent
attribute. Thus, given a tuple and the values of the
attributes in X, one can determine the corresponding
value of the Y attribute.
Types of Functional Dependency
Trivial functional dependency
A → B has trivial functional dependency if B is a subset of A.

The following dependencies are also trivial like: A → A,
B → B
Consider a table with two columns:
 Employee_Id and Employee_Name.
{Employee_id, Employee_Name} → Employee_Id
is a trivial functional dependency as:
Employee_Id is a subset of {Employee_Id, Employee_Na
me}
Non-trivial functional dependency
A → B has a non-trivial functional

dependency if B is not a subset of A.
When A intersection B is NULL, then A →
B is called as complete non-trivial.
For example:
ID → Name,
Name → DOB
Example
Functional Dependence (FD)
Functional Dependence (FD)
Partial functional dependency
In a relation R(A,B,C,D) if the key is (A,B) and
(A,B)->(C,D) holds, also (A)->(C) also
holds, C is said to be partially dependent
on (A,B)
Partial Functional Dependency occurs only
in relation with composite keys. Partial
functional dependency occurs when one or
more non key attribute are depending on a part
of the primary key.
Example
Table: Stud_id, Course_id, Stud_name, Course_Name

Where: Primary Key = Stud_id + Course_id
Then: To determine name of student we use only
Stud_id, which is part of primary key.
{Stud_id} -> {Stud_Name}
Hence, Stud_name is partially dependent on
Stud_id. This is called partial dependency.
Fully functional dependency
 In R(A,B,C) if (A,B)->C holds and
neither A->C nor B->C holds then it s fully
functionally dependent on (A,B).
A functional dependency X → Y is a full functional
dependency if removal of any attribute A from X
means that the dependency does not hold any more
For example, in relation Supplier, different cities may have the same status. It
may be possible that cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar may have the same status
10.
So, the City is not FD on Status.
But, the combination of Sno, Status can give only one corresponding City
because “Sno” is unique. Thus,
 (Sno, Status) City
It means city is FD on composite attribute (Sno, Status) however City is not
fully functional dependent on this composite attribute, which is explained
below:
 (Sno, Status) City
 X Y

Here Y is FD on X, but X has two proper subsets Sno and Status; city is FD on
one proper subset of X i.e. Sno
 Sno City
According to FFD definition, Y must not be FD on any proper subset of X, but
here City is FD in one subset of X i.e. Sno, so City is not FFD on (Sno, Status)
Consider another case of SP table:
Here, Qty is FD on combination of Sno, Pno.
 (Sno, Pno) Qty
 X Y
Here, X has two proper subsets Sno and Pno
Qty is not FD on Sno, because one Sno can supply more
than one quantity.
Qty is also not FD on Pno, because one Pno may be
supplied many times by different suppliers with different
or same quantities.
So, Qty is FFD on (Sno, Pno) .
Transitive Functional Dependency
A Transitive Functional Dependency is a functional
dependency where the determinant and the
determined both consists of non-key attributes.
 X→ Y
X non-prime attribute
Y also non prime attribute
Trivial Functional Dependency
• Trivial: If an FD X → Y holds where Y subset of X, then it is
called a trivial FD. Trivial FDs always hold.
• Non-trivial: If an FD X → Y holds where Y is not subset of

X, then it is called non-trivial FD.
Armstrong’s Axiom Rules
Armstrong axioms consist of the following following
rules:
Primary rules
Reflexivity: If Y ⊆ X, then X → Y.
Augmentation: If X → Y , then XZ → YZ.
Transitivity: If X → Y and Y → Z, then X → Z.
Secondary rules
Union
If A holds B and A holds C, then A holds BC.
If{A → B} and {A → C}, then {A → BC}
Decomposition
If A holds BC and A holds B, then A holds C.
If{A → BC} and {A → B}, then {A → C}
Pseudo Transitivity
If A holds B and BC holds D, then AC holds D.
If{A → B} and {BC → D}, then {AC → D}
Example 1
Consider relation E = (P, Q, R, S, T, U) having set of
Functional Dependencies (FD).
P → Q P → R
QR → S Q → T
QR → U PR → U
Calculate some members of Axioms as follows:
1. P → T
In the above FD set, P → Q and Q → T
So, Using Transitive Rule: If {A → B} and {B → C},
then {A → C}
∴ If P → Q and Q → T, then P → T.
P→T
2. PR → S
In the above FD set, P → Q
As, QR → S
So, Using Pseudo Transitivity Rule: If{A → B} and
{BC → D}, then {AC → D}
∴ If P → Q and QR → S, then PR → S.
PR → S
3. QR → SU
In above FD set, QR → S and QR → U
So, Using Union Rule: If {A → B} and {A → C}, then
{A → BC}
∴ If QR → S and QR → U, then QR → SU.
QR → SU
4. PR → SU
So, Using Union Rule: If {A → B} and {A → C}, then
{A → BC}
∴ If PR → S and PR → U, then PR → SU.
PR → SU
How to check whether an FD can be derived from
a given FD set?
To check whether an FD A->B can be derived from an
FD set F,
Find (A)+ using FD set F.
If B is subset of (A)+, then A->B is true else not true.
Example 2
 In a schema with attributes A, B, C, D and E
following set of functional dependencies are
given
{A -> B, A -> C, CD -> E, B -> D, E -> A}
Which of the following functional dependencies
is NOT implied by the above set?
A. CD -> AC
B. BD -> CD
C. BC -> CD
D. AC -> BC
Answer: Using FD set given in question,
(CD)+ = {CDEAB} which means CD -> AC also holds true.
(BD)+ = {BD} which means BD -> CD can’t hold true. So
this FD is no implied in FD set. So (B) is the required
option.
Others can be checked in the same way.
(BC)+ ={B,C,D,E,A} which means BC -> CD also holds
true.
(AC)+ ={A,C,B,D,E} which means AC -> BC also holds
true.
How to find Candidate Keys and Super Keys using
Attribute Closure?
If attribute closure of an attribute set contains all
attributes of relation, the attribute set will be super
key of the relation.
If no subset of this attribute set can functionally
determine all attributes of the relation, the set will be
candidate key as well.
Note: Candidate key is the minimal super key
Example 3
 Consider the relation scheme R = {E, F, G, H, I, J,
K, L, M, N} and the set of functional dependencies
{{E, F} -> {G}, {F} -> {I, J}, {E, H} -> {K, L}, K -> {M}, L
-> {N} on R. What is the candidate key for R?
A. {E, F}
B. {E, F, H}
C. {E, F, H, K, L}
D. {E}
Finding attribute closure of all given options, we get:
{E,F}+ = {EFGIJ}
{E,F,H}+ = {EFHGIJKLMN}
{E,F,H,K,L}+ = {EFHGIJKLMN}
{E}+ = {E}
{EFH}+ and {EFHKL}+ results in set of all attributes,
but EFH is minimal. So it will be candidate key. So
correct option is (B).
Example 4
Consider a relation scheme R = (A, B, C, D, E, H)
on which the following functional dependencies
hold: {A–>B, BC–> D, E–>C, D–>A}. What are the
candidate keys of R?
(a) AE, BE
(b) AE, BE, DE
(c) AEH, BEH, BCH
(d) AEH, BEH, DEH
Answer: (AE)+ = {ABECD} which is not set of all
attributes. So AE is not a candidate key. Hence option
A and B are wrong.
(AEH)+ = {ABCDEH}
(BEH)+ = {BEHCDA}
(BCH)+ = {BCHDA} which is not set of all attributes.
So BCH is not a candidate key. Hence option C is
wrong.
So correct answer is D.

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Dependencies in DBMS

A → B has trivial functional dependency if B is a subset of A.

A → B has a non-trivial functional

Table: Stud_id, Course_id, Stud_name, Course_Name

• Non-trivial: If an FD X → Y holds where Y is not subset of

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