Functional Dependencies and

Normalization for Relational

Databases

Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-2
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Chapter Outline
1 Informal Design Guidelines for Relational Databases
1.1Semantics of the Relation Attributes
1.2 Redundant Information in Tuples and Update Anomalies
1.3 Null Values in Tuples
1.4 Spurious Tuples
2 Functional Dependencies (FDs)
2.1 Definition of FD
2.2 Inference Rules for FDs
2.3 Equivalence of Sets of FDs
2.4 Minimal Sets of FDs

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-3

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Chapter Outline(contd.)
3 Normal Forms Based on Primary Keys
3.1 Normalization of Relations
3.2 Practical Use of Normal Forms
3.3 Definitions of Keys and Attributes Participating in Keys
3.4 First Normal Form
3.5 Second Normal Form
3.6 Third Normal Form
4 General Normal Form Definitions (For Multiple
Keys)
5 BCNF (Boyce-Codd Normal Form)
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-4
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 1 Informal Design Guidelines for
Relational Databases (1)

What is relational database design?

The grouping of attributes to form "good" relation schemas
 Two levels of relation schemas
– The logical "user view" level
– The storage "base relation" level
 Design is concerned mainly with base relations
 What are the criteria for "good" base relations?

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-5

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Informal Design Guidelines for
Relational Databases (2)
We first discuss informal guidelines for good
relational design
Then we discuss formal concepts of functional
dependencies and normal forms
- 1NF (First Normal Form)
- 2NF (Second Normal Form)
- 3NF (Third Normal Form)
- BCNF (Boyce-Codd Normal Form)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-6

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 1.1 Semantics of the Relation
Attributes
GUIDELINE 1: Informally, each tuple in a relation
should represent one entity or relationship instance.
(Applies to individual relations and their attributes).
 Attributes of different entities (EMPLOYEEs, DEPARTMENTs,
PROJECTs) should not be mixed in the same relation
 Only foreign keys should be used to refer to other entities
 Entity and relationship attributes should be kept apart as much as
possible.
Bottom Line: Design a schema that can be explained
easily relation by relation. The semantics of
attributes should be easy to interpret.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-7

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Figure 10.1 A simplified COMPANY
relational database schema

Note: The above figure is now called Figure 10.1 in Edition 4

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-8
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 1.2 Redundant Information in
Tuples and Update Anomalies
Mixing attributes of multiple entities may cause
problems
Information is stored redundantly wasting storage
Problems with update anomalies
– Insertion anomalies
– Deletion anomalies
– Modification anomalies

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-9

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 EXAMPLE OF AN UPDATE
ANOMALY (1)
Consider the relation:
EMP_PROJ ( Emp#, Proj#, Ename, Pname, No_hours)

Update Anomaly: Changing the name of project

number P1 from “Billing” to “Customer-
Accounting” may cause this update to be made for
all 100 employees working on project P1.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-10

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 EXAMPLE OF AN UPDATE
ANOMALY (2)
Insert Anomaly: Cannot insert a project unless
an employee is assigned to .
Inversely - Cannot insert an employee unless an
he/she is assigned to a project.
 Delete Anomaly: When a project is deleted, it
will result in deleting all the employees who work
on that project. Alternately, if an employee is the
sole employee on a project, deleting that employee
would result in deleting the corresponding project.
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-11
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Figure 10.3 Two relation schemas
suffering from update anomalies

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-12

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Figure 10.4 Example States for EMP_DEPT
and EMP_PROJ

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-13

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Guideline to Redundant Information
in Tuples and Update Anomalies
GUIDELINE 2: Design a schema that does not
suffer from the insertion, deletion and update
anomalies. If there are any present, then note them
so that applications can be made to take them into
account

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-14

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 1.3 Null Values in Tuples

GUIDELINE 3: Relations should be designed such

that their tuples will have as few NULL values as
possible
 Attributes that are NULL frequently could be
placed in separate relations (with the primary key)
 Reasons for nulls:
– attribute not applicable or invalid
– attribute value unknown (may exist)
– value known to exist, but unavailable

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-15

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 1.4 Spurious Tuples

Bad designs for a relational database may result in

erroneous results for certain JOIN operations
The "lossless join" property is used to guarantee
meaningful results for join operations

GUIDELINE 4: The relations should be designed to

satisfy the lossless join condition. No spurious
tuples should be generated by doing a natural-join
of any relations.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-16

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Spurious Tuples (2)

There are two important properties of decompositions:

(a) non-additive or losslessness of the corresponding
join
(b) preservation of the functional dependencies.

Note that property (a) is extremely important and

cannot be sacrificed. Property (b) is less stringent
and may be sacrificed.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-17

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 2.1 Functional Dependencies (1)
Functional dependencies (FDs) are used to specify
formal measures of the "goodness" of relational
designs
FDs and keys are used to define normal forms for
relations
FDs are constraints that are derived from the
meaning and interrelationships of the data attributes
A set of attributes X functionally determines a set of
attributes Y if the value of X determines a unique
value for Y

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-18

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Functional Dependencies (2)

 X -> Y holds if whenever two tuples have the same value

for X, they must have the same value for Y
 For any two tuples t1 and t2 in any relation instance r(R):
If t1[X]=t2[X], then t1[Y]=t2[Y]
 X -> Y in R specifies a constraint on all relation
instances r(R)
 Written as X -> Y; can be displayed graphically on a
relation schema as in Figures. ( denoted by the arrow: ).
 FDs are derived from the real-world constraints on the
attributes

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-19

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Examples of FD constraints (1)

social security number determines employee name

SSN -> ENAME
project number determines project name and
location
PNUMBER -> {PNAME, PLOCATION}
employee ssn and project number determines the
hours per week that the employee works on the
project
{SSN, PNUMBER} -> HOURS

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-20

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Examples of FD constraints (2)

An FD is a property of the attributes in the schema

R
The constraint must hold on every relation
instance r(R)
If K is a key of R, then K functionally determines
all attributes in R (since we never have two
distinct tuples with t1[K]=t2[K])

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-21

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 2.2 Inference Rules for FDs (1)

Given a set of FDs F, we can infer additional FDs

that hold whenever the FDs in F hold
Armstrong's inference rules:
IR1. (Reflexive) If Y subset-of X, then X -> Y
IR2. (Augmentation) If X -> Y, then XZ -> YZ
(Notation: XZ stands for X U Z)
IR3. (Transitive) If X -> Y and Y -> Z, then X -> Z

 IR1, IR2, IR3 form a sound and complete set of

inference rules
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-22
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Inference Rules for FDs (2)

Some additional inference rules that are useful:

(Decomposition) If X -> YZ, then X -> Y and X -> Z
(Union) If X -> Y and X -> Z, then X -> YZ
(Psuedotransitivity) If X -> Y and WY -> Z, then WX ->
Z

 The last three inference rules, as well as any other

inference rules, can be deduced from IR1, IR2,
and IR3 (completeness property)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-23

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Inference Rules for FDs (3)

Closure of a set F of FDs is the set F+ of all FDs

that can be inferred from F

Closure of a set of attributes X with respect to F is

the set X + of all attributes that are functionally
determined by X

X + can be calculated by repeatedly applying IR1,

IR2, IR3 using the FDs in F

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-24

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 2.3 Equivalence of Sets of FDs

Two sets of FDs F and G are equivalent if:

- every FD in F can be inferred from G, and
- every FD in G can be inferred from F
Hence, F and G are equivalent if F + =G +
Definition: F covers G if every FD in G can be
inferred from F (i.e., if G + subset-of F +)
F and G are equivalent if F covers G and G covers
F
There is an algorithm for checking equivalence of
sets of FDs
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-25
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 2.4 Minimal Sets of FDs (1)

 A set of FDs is minimal if it satisfies the

following conditions:
(1) Every dependency in F has a single attribute for its RHS.
(2) We cannot remove any dependency from F and have a
set of dependencies that is equivalent to F.
(3) We cannot replace any dependency X -> A in F with a
dependency Y -> A, where Y proper-subset-of X
( Y subset-of X) and still have a set of dependencies that
is equivalent to F.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-26

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Minimal Sets of FDs (2)

Every set of FDs has an equivalent minimal set

There can be several equivalent minimal sets
There is no simple algorithm for computing a
minimal set of FDs that is equivalent to a set F of
FDs
To synthesize a set of relations, we assume that
we start with a set of dependencies that is a
minimal set

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-27

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 3 Normal Forms Based on Primary
Keys
3.1 Normalization of Relations
3.2 Practical Use of Normal Forms
3.3 Definitions of Keys and Attributes
Participating in Keys
3.4 First Normal Form
3.5 Second Normal Form
3.6 Third Normal Form

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-28

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 3.1 Normalization of Relations (1)

Normalization: The process of decomposing

unsatisfactory "bad" relations by breaking up their
attributes into smaller relations

Normal form: Condition using keys and FDs of a

relation to certify whether a relation schema is in a
particular normal form

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-29

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Normalization of Relations (2)

2NF, 3NF, BCNF based on keys and FDs of a

relation schema
4NF based on keys, multi-valued dependencies :
MVDs; 5NF based on keys, join dependencies :
JDs (Chapter 11)
Additional properties may be needed to ensure a
good relational design (lossless join, dependency
preservation; Chapter 11)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-30

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 3.2 Practical Use of Normal Forms

 Normalization is carried out in practice so that the

resulting designs are of high quality and meet the desirable
properties
 The practical utility of these normal forms becomes
questionable when the constraints on which they are based
are hard to understand or to detect
 The database designers need not normalize to the highest
possible normal form. (usually up to 3NF, BCNF or 4NF)
 Denormalization: the process of storing the join of higher
normal form relations as a base relation—which is in a
lower normal form

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-31

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 3.3 Definitions of Keys and Attributes
Participating in Keys (1)
A superkey of a relation schema R = {A1, A2, ....,
An} is a set of attributes S subset-of R with the
property that no two tuples t1 and t2 in any legal
relation state r of R will have t1[S] = t2[S]

A key K is a superkey with the additional

property that removal of any attribute from K will
cause K not to be a superkey any more.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-32

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Definitions of Keys and Attributes
Participating in Keys (2)
If a relation schema has more than one key, each
is called a candidate key. One of the candidate
keys is arbitrarily designated to be the primary
key, and the others are called secondary keys.
A Prime attribute must be a member of some
candidate key
A Nonprime attribute is not a prime attribute—
that is, it is not a member of any candidate key.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-33

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 3.2 First Normal Form

Disallows composite attributes, multivalued

attributes, and nested relations; attributes
whose values for an individual tuple are
non-atomic

Considered to be part of the definition of

relation

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-34

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Figure 10.8 Normalization into 1NF

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-35

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Figure 10.9 Normalization nested
relations into 1NF

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-36

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 3.3 Second Normal Form (1)
 Uses the concepts of FDs, primary key
Definitions:
Prime attribute - attribute that is member of the
primary key K
Full functional dependency - a FD Y -> Z where
removal of any attribute from Y means the FD does
not hold any more
Examples: - {SSN, PNUMBER} -> HOURS is a full FD
since neither SSN -> HOURS nor PNUMBER -> HOURS hold
- {SSN, PNUMBER} -> ENAME is not a full FD (it is called a
partial dependency ) since SSN -> ENAME also holds

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-37

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Second Normal Form (2)

A relation schema R is in second normal

form (2NF) if every non-prime attribute A
in R is fully functionally dependent on the
primary key

R can be decomposed into 2NF relations

via the process of 2NF normalization

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-38

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Figure 10.10 Normalizing into 2NF and
3NF

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-39

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Figure 10.11 Normalization into 2NF
and 3NF

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-40

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 3.4 Third Normal Form (1)

Definition:
Transitive functional dependency - a FD X -> Z
that can be derived from two FDs X -> Y and Y -> Z
Examples:
- SSN -> DMGRSSN is a transitive FD since
SSN -> DNUMBER and DNUMBER -> DMGRSSN
hold
- SSN -> ENAME is non-transitive since there is no set
of attributes X where SSN -> X and X -> ENAME

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-41

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Third Normal Form (2)

A relation schema R is in third normal form

(3NF) if it is in 2NF and no non-prime attribute A
in R is transitively dependent on the primary key
R can be decomposed into 3NF relations via the
process of 3NF normalization
NOTE:
In X -> Y and Y -> Z, with X as the primary key, we consider this a
problem only if Y is not a candidate key. When Y is a candidate key,
there is no problem with the transitive dependency .
E.g., Consider EMP (SSN, Emp#, Salary ).
Here, SSN -> Emp# -> Salary and Emp# is a candidate key.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-42

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 4 General Normal Form Definitions
(For Multiple Keys) (1)
The above definitions consider the primary key
only
The following more general definitions take into
account relations with multiple candidate keys
A relation schema R is in second normal form
(2NF) if every non-prime attribute A in R is fully
functionally dependent on every key of R

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-43

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 General Normal Form Definitions (2)

Definition:
Superkey of relation schema R - a set of attributes
S of R that contains a key of R
A relation schema R is in third normal form
(3NF) if whenever a FD X -> A holds in R, then
either:
(a) X is a superkey of R, or
(b) A is a prime attribute of R
NOTE: Boyce-Codd normal form disallows condition (b)
above
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-44
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 5 BCNF (Boyce-Codd Normal Form)

A relation schema R is in Boyce-Codd Normal

Form (BCNF) if whenever an FD X -> A holds
in R, then X is a superkey of R
 Each normal form is strictly stronger than the previous one
– Every 2NF relation is in 1NF
– Every 3NF relation is in 2NF
– Every BCNF relation is in 3NF
 There exist relations that are in 3NF but not in BCNF
 The goal is to have each relation in BCNF (or 3NF)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-45

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Figure 10.12 Boyce-Codd normal form

Note: The above figure is now called Figure 10.12 in Edition 4

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-46
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Figure 10.13 a relation TEACH that is
in 3NF but not in BCNF

Note: The above figure is now called Figure 10.13 in Edition 4

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-47
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Achieving the BCNF by
Decomposition (1)
 Two FDs exist in the relation TEACH:
fd1: { student, course} -> instructor
fd2: instructor -> course
 {student, course} is a candidate key for this relation and that
the dependencies shown follow the pattern in Figure 10.12
(b). So this relation is in 3NF but not in BCNF
 A relation NOT in BCNF should be decomposed so as to
meet this property, while possibly forgoing the preservation
of all functional dependencies in the decomposed relations.
(See Algorithm 11.3)

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-48

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
 Achieving the BCNF by
Decomposition (2)
 Three possible decompositions for relation TEACH
1. {student, instructor} and {student, course}
2. {course, instructor } and {course, student}
3. {instructor, course } and {instructor, student}
 All three decompositions will lose fd1. We have to settle for sacrificing the
functional dependency preservation. But we cannot sacrifice the non-additivity
property after decomposition.
 Out of the above three, only the 3rd decomposition will not generate spurious
tuples after join.(and hence has the non-additivity property).
 A test to determine whether a binary decomposition (decomposition into two
relations) is nonadditive (lossless) is discussed in section 11.1.4 under Property
LJ1. Verify that the third decomposition above meets the property.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-49

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
1) Consider a relation R ( A , B , C , D , E , F , G ) with the
functional dependenciesA → BC, BC → DE, D → F,CF → G
Now, let us find the closure of attributes and attribute sets- List out
candidate keys.

2) Given a relation R(A,B,C,D,E) and a set

of functional dependencies F = A → BC,
CD → E, B → D, and E → A,
List the candidate keys of R.

3) R(A,B,C,D,E,F)
FDs S = {AB → C, BC → AD, D → E, CF → B} find attribute
closures, and list the candidate keys of R.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-50

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
4) Suppose, a relational schema R (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H) and set
of functional dependencies: F { ABC, E C, AH D, CD
E, D AEH, DH BC } Compute AE + . Is BCD H valid or not?

5) Relation R = SNCPXYQ was decomposed into {SNC},

{PXY}, and {SPQ}. Considering the following functional
dependencies SNC, PXY, and SPQ, do the
Chase Test to assess whether this decomposition had a
lossless join.
6) Product(name, price, category, color)
name, category -> price
category -> color
What is the key ?
Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-51
Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Assume that there are 4 attributes A, B, C, D, and
that F = {A → B, B → C}.
Then, F + includes all the following FDs: A → A,
A → B, A → C, B → B, B → C, C → C, D → D,
AB → A, AB → B, AB → C, AC → A, AC → B,
AC → C, AD → A, AD → B, AD → C, AD → D,
BC → B, BC → C, BD → B, BD → C, BD → D,
CD → C, CD → D, ABC → A, ABC → B, ABC →
C, ABD → A, ABD → B, ABD → C, ABD → D,
BCD → B, BCD → C, BCD → D, ABCD → A,
ABCD → B, ABCD → C, ABCD → D.

Elmasri/Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition Chapter 10-52

Copyright © 2004 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe