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Normalization Problems

The document discusses normal forms for database relations including first, second, third normal form and BCNF. It provides examples of relations and functional dependencies to illustrate when relations satisfy or violate different normal forms.

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prasad
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164 views

Normalization Problems

The document discusses normal forms for database relations including first, second, third normal form and BCNF. It provides examples of relations and functional dependencies to illustrate when relations satisfy or violate different normal forms.

Uploaded by

prasad
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.

First Normal Form –

Example 1 – Relation STUDENT in table 1 is not in 1NF because of multi-valued attribute


STUD_PHONE. Its decomposition into 1NF has been shown in table 2.

Example 2 –

ID Name Courses
------------------
1 A c1, c2
2 E c3
3 M C2, c3
In the above table Course is a multi-valued attribute so it is not in 1NF.
Below Table is in 1NF as there is no multi-valued attribute
ID Name Course
------------------
1 A c1
1 A c2
2 E c3
3 M c2
3 M c3
2. Second Normal Form –

Example 1 – Consider table-3 as following below.

STUD_NO COURSE_NO COURSE_FEE


1 C1 1000
2 C2 1500
1 C4 2000
4 C3 1000
4 C1 1000
2 C5 2000
{Note that, there are many courses having the same course fee. }
Here,
COURSE_FEE cannot alone decide the value of COURSE_NO or STUD_NO;
COURSE_FEE together with STUD_NO cannot decide the value of COURSE_NO;
COURSE_FEE together with COURSE_NO cannot decide the value of STUD_NO;
Hence,
COURSE_FEE would be a non-prime attribute, as it does not belong to the one only candidate
key {STUD_NO, COURSE_NO} ;
But, COURSE_NO -> COURSE_FEE, i.e., COURSE_FEE is dependent on COURSE_NO,
which is a proper subset of the candidate key. Non-prime attribute COURSE_FEE is dependent
on a proper subset of the candidate key, which is a partial dependency and so this relation is
not in 2NF.

To convert the above relation to 2NF,


we need to split the table into two tables such as :
Table 1: STUD_NO, COURSE_NO
Table 2: COURSE_NO, COURSE_FEE

Table 1 Table 2
STUD_NO COURSE_NO COURSE_NO COURSE_FEE
1 C1 C1 1000
2 C2 C2 1500
1 C4 C3 1000
4 C3 C4 2000
4 C1 C5 2000
Example 2 – Consider following functional dependencies in relation  R (A,  B , C,  D )
AB -> C [A and B together determine C]

BC -> D [B and C together determine D]

In the above relation, AB is the only candidate key and there is no partial dependency, i.e., any
proper subset of AB doesn’t determine any non-prime attribute.

3. Third Normal Form –

Transitive dependency – If A->B and B->C are two FDs then A->C is called transitive
dependency.

Example 1 – In relation STUDENT given in Table 4,


FD set: {STUD_NO -> STUD_NAME, STUD_NO -> STUD_STATE, STUD_STATE ->
STUD_COUNTRY, STUD_NO -> STUD_AGE}
Candidate Key: {STUD_NO}

For this relation in table 4,

STUD_NO -> STUD_STATE and STUD_STATE -> STUD_COUNTRY are true.

So STUD_COUNTRY is transitively dependent on STUD_NO. It violates the third normal


form. To convert it in third normal form, we will decompose the relation STUDENT
(STUD_NO, STUD_NAME, STUD_PHONE, STUD_STATE,
STUD_COUNTRY_STUD_AGE) as:
STUDENT (STUD_NO, STUD_NAME, STUD_PHONE, STUD_STATE, STUD_AGE)
STATE_COUNTRY (STATE, COUNTRY)
Example 2 – Consider relation R(A, B, C, D, E)
A -> BC,
CD -> E,
B -> D,
E -> A
All possible candidate keys in above relation are {A, E, CD, BC} All attributes are on right
sides of all functional dependencies are prime.

4. Boyce-Codd Normal Form (BCNF) –

Example 1 – 
Find the highest normal form of a relation R(A,B,C,D,E) with FD set as
{BC->D, AC->BE, B->E}
Step 1:
As we can see, (AC)+ ={A,C,B,E,D} but none of its subset can determine all attribute of
relation, So AC will be candidate key. A or C can’t be derived from any other attribute of the
relation, so there will be only 1 candidate key {AC}.
Step 2:
Prime attributes are those attributes that are part of candidate key {A, C} in this example and
others will be non-prime {B, D, E} in this example.
Step 3:
The relation R is in 1st normal form as a relational DBMS does not allow multi-valued or
composite attribute.
The relation is in 2nd normal form because BC->D is in 2nd normal form (BC is not a proper
subset of candidate key AC) and
AC->BE is in 2nd normal form (AC is candidate key) and B->E is in 2nd normal form (B is
not a proper subset of candidate key AC).
The relation is not in 3rd normal form because in BC->D (neither BC is a super key nor D is a
prime attribute) and in B->E (neither B is a super key nor E is a prime attribute) but to satisfy
3rd normal for, either LHS of an FD should be super key or RHS should be prime attribute.
So the highest normal form of relation will be 2nd Normal form.
Example 2 –For example consider relation R(A, B, C)
A -> BC,
B ->A and B both are super keys so above relation is in BCNF

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