SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Ramapuram Campus, Bharathi Salai, Ramapuram, Chennai - 600089

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OFCOMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

QUESTION BANK

Degree & Branch : B.TECH- CSE

Semester : III/VI
Sub Code & Subject Name : 18CSC303J- Database Management Systems
Regulation : 2018
Academic Year : 2022-2023
 SRM INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Ramapuram Campus, Bharathi Salai, Ramapuram, Chennai-600089

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

QUESTION BANK

SUBJECT : Subject Code: 18CSC303J- Database Management Systems

SEM/YEAR: VI/III
Course Outcomes

CO1: Acquire the knowledge on DBMS Architecture and Languages.

CO2: Apply the fundamentals of data models to model an application’s data requirements using
conceptual modeling tools like ER diagrams.

CO3: Apply the method to convert the ER model to a database schemas based on the
conceptual relational model.

CO4: Apply the knowledge to create, store and retrieve data using Structure Query Language
(SQL) and PL/SQL.

CO5: Apply the knowledge to improve database design using various normalization criteria
and optimize queries.

CO6: Appreciate the fundamental concepts of transaction processing- concurrency control

techniques and recovery procedures.

PART-A
Q. Cour
se Competence
N Questions Outc BT Level
o. ome
If a multivalued dependency holds and is not implied by the
corresponding functional dependency, it usually arises from one
of the following sources.

A. many-to-many relationship set

C
1 O2 BT1
B. multivalued attribute of an entity set

C. one-to-many relationship set

D. Both a and b

A relational database consists of a collection of

A. Tables

B. Fields C
2 O2 BT1
C. Records

D. Keys

A ________ in a table represents a relationship among a set of

values.

A. Column

3 B. Key CO2 BT2

C. Row

D. Entry

The term attribute refers to a ___________ of a table.

A. Record
B. Column
4 CO2 BT1
C. Tuple
D. Key
 A ________ is a set of entities of the same type that share the
same properties, or attributes.

A. Entity set

B. Attribute set
5 CO2 BT1
C. Relation set

D. Entity model

The attribute name could be structured as an attribute consisting of

first name, middle initial, and last name. This type of attribute is
called

A. Simple attribute
6 CO2 BT1
B. Composite attribute

C. Multivalued attribute

D. Derived attribute

The attribute AGE is calculated from DATE_OF_BIRTH. The

attribute AGE is

A. Single valued

7 B. Multi valued CO2 BT1

C. Composite

D. Derived

In a relation between the entities the type and condition of the

relation should be specified. That is called as______attribute.

A. Descriptive

8 B. Derived CO2 BT2

C. Recursive

D. Relative
 An entity in A is associated with at most one entity in B, and an
entity in B is associated with at most one entity in A. This is
called as

A. One-to-many
9 CO2 BT3
B. One-to-one

C. Many-to-many

D. Many-to-one

An entity in A is associated with at most one entity in B. An entity

in B, however, can be associated with any number

(zero or more) of entities in A.

A. One-to-many
10 CO2 BT1
B. One-to-one

C. Many-to-many

D. Many-to-one

Which of the following can be addressed by enforcing a

referential integrity constraint?

A. All phone numbers must include the area code

B. Certain fields are required (such as the email address, or

phone number) before the record is accepted BT1
11 CO2
C. Information on the customer must be known before
anything can be sold to that customer

D. Then entering an order quantity, the user must input a

number and not some text (i.e., 12 rather than ‘a dozen’)
 ______ is a special type of integrity constraint that relates two
relations & maintains consistency across the relations.

A. Entity Integrity Constraints

12 B. Referential Integrity Constraints CO2 BT1

C. Domain Integrity Constraints

D. Domain Constraints

Which one of the following uniquely identifies the elements in the

relation?

A. Secondary Key

13 B. Primary key CO2 BT2

C. Foreign key

D. Composite key

____________ is preferred method for enforcing data integrity

A. Constraints

B. Stored Procedure BT1

14 CO2
C. Triggers

D. Cursors

Let us consider phone - number, which can take single or several

values. Treating phone - number as a _________ permits
instructors to have several phone numbers (including zero)
associated with them.

A. Entity
15 CO2 BT1
B. Attribute

C. Relation

D. Value
 Given the basic ER and relational models, which of the following is INCORRECT?

A. An attribute of an entity can have more than one value

16 B. An attribute of an entity can be composite

CO2 BT1
C. In a row of a relational table, an attribute can have more than one value

D. In a row of a relational table, an attribute can have exactly one value or a NULL value

In E-R diagram generalization is represented by

A. Ellipse

B. Dashed ellipse
17 CO2 BT1
C. Rectangle

D. Triangle

What is a relationship called when it is maintained between two

entities?

A. Unary
18 CO2 BT1
B. Binary
C. Ternary
D. Quaternary
A primary key is combined with a foreign key creates

A. Parent-Child relationship between the tables that connect

them

B. Many to many relationship between the tables that connect BT1

19 CO2
them

C. Network model between the tables that connect them

D. An attribute of an entity can be composite

 There are similarities between the instructor entity set and the
secretary entity set in the sense that they have several attributes
that are conceptually the same across the two entity sets: namely,
the identifier, name, and salary attributes. This process is called

A. Commonality
20 CO2 BT1
B. Specialization

C. Generalization

D. Similarity

Consider the employee work-team example, and assume that

certain employees participate in more than one work team. A
given employee may therefore appear in more than one of the
team entity sets that are lower level entity sets of employee. Thus,
the generalization is _____________

21 A. Overlapping CO2 BT1

B. Disjointness

C. Uniqueness

D. Relational

The completeness constraint may be one of the following: Total

generalization or specialization, Partial generalization or
specialization. Which is the default?

A. Total
22 CO2 BT1
B. Partial

C. Should be specified

D. cannot be determined
 The_____ operation allows the combining of two relations by
merging pairs of tuples, one from each relation, into a single tuple.

A. Select

23 B. Join CO2 BT1

C. Union

D. Intersection

The _______operation performs a set union of two “similarly

structured” tables

A. Union

24 B. Join CO2 BT1

C. Product

D. Intersect

Which of the following is another name for a weak entity?

A. Child

B. Owner
25 CO2 BT1
C. Dominant

D. Parent

The subset of a super key is a candidate key under what

condition?

A. No proper subset is a super key

26 B. All subsets are super keys CO2 BT1

C. Subset is a super key

D. Each subset is a super key

 In a relational model, relations are termed as

A. Tuples.
27 B. Attributes CO2 BT1
C. Tables.
D. Rows.
In an E-R diagram an entity set is represent by a

A. Rectangle.
B. Ellipse.
28 CO2 BT1
C. Diamond box.
D. Circle.

The relational model feature is that there

A. Is no need for primary key data.

B. Is much more data independence than some other database

29 models. CO2 BT1

C. Are explicit relationships among records.
D. Are tables with many dimensions.

What is a relationship called when it is maintained between two

entities?

A. Unary
30 CO2 BT1
B. Binary
C. Ternary
D. Quaternary
 Degree of ternary relationship is________________

A. 2
31 CO2 BT1
B. 4
C. 5
D. 3

Let us consider first name, middle initial, and last name as a

subparts of name attribute, then Name is a _______________
attribute

A. Simple
32 CO2 BT1
B. Composite

C. Single

D. Derived

An entity set which does not have any key attributes is called as a

A. Strong entity set

33 B. weak entity set CO2 BT1

C. partially Strong entity set

D. partially weak entity set

 The ______________ relationship may also be referred to as a
superclass-subclass relationship.

A. Generalization
34 CO2 BT1
B. Partialization

C. Specialization

D. Aggregation

Consider a relation student course details with attributes rno,

sname, semester, subjects and rno. be the primary key subjects in
this relation can be ________________ attribute

A. Single
CO2 BT1
35
B. Simple

C. Composite

D. Multivalued

Which of the following is not valid in case of ER diagram

creation.

A. Identify all the entities in the system.

B. Identify relationships between entities BT1

36 CO2
C. Add attributes for entities

D. Remove attributes for entities

 ______________ relationship involves the same entity type more
than once

A. Recursive
37 CO2 BT3
B. Many to many

C. One to many

D. Many to one

__________________ key identifies the tuples uniquely in

relation.

A. Primary key
38 CO2 BT3
B. Super key

C. Candidate key

D. None of these

Relations obtained from an E-R model will always be in

______________ normal form

A. Fourth
39 CO2 BT2
B. Third

C. BCNF

D. First
 E-R modeling technique is a:

A. Top-down approach

40 B. Bottom-up approach CO2 BT2

C. Left-right approach

D. Right- Left approach

______________ is a bottom-up approach in which two lower

level entities combine to form a higher level entity.

A. Specialization

B. Aggregation BT2
41 CO2
C. Initialisation

D. Generalization

_____________ key is a candidate key not used for primary key

A. Alternate

42 B. Foreign CO2 BT2

C. Super

D. Unique
 Which of the following commands is used to get all the columns
in a table?

A. #
43 CO2 BT3
B. *

C. %

D. @

The set of permitted values for each attribute is called its :

A. Attribute set

B. Attribute range
44 BT3
CO2
C. Domain

D. Group

___________ key provides the basic tuple-level addressing

mechanism in a relational System

A. Unique

B. Alternative BT2
45 CO2
C. Candidate

D. Primary
 The ____________of Primary keys of the related entity sets
becomes a Super Key of the relation.

A. Union

B. Intersection BT2
46 CO2
C. Minus

D. Aggregation

Which of the following is not a set operation?

A. Union
CO2 BT3
47 B. Intersection

C. Minus

D. Aggregation

Which of the following is not an aggregation operation?

A. Max

48 B. Min CO2 BT3

C. Minus

D. Sum

In E-R diagram generalization is represented by

A. Ellipse

49 B. Dashed ellipse CO2 BT2

C. Rectangle

D. Triangle
 In an E-R, Y is the dominant entity and X is a subordinate entity.
Then which of the following is incorrect?

A. operationally, If Y is deleted, so is X

B. X existence is dependent on Y BT2

50 CO2
C. operationally, if X is deleted, so is Y

D. operationally, if X is deleted, Y remains the same

---------- denote derived attributes.

A. Double ellipse

51 B. Dashed ellipse CO2 BT3

C. Squared ellipse

D. Ellipse with attribute name underlined

What is an Instance of a Database?

a) The logical design of the database system

b) The entire set of attributes of the Database put together in a

single relation
52 CO2 BT1
c) The state of the database system at any given point of time

d) The initial values inserted into the Database immediately after

its creation
 PART B (4 Marks)

What is the difference between a database schema and a database state?

The following points explain the main differences between database and
schema:

● The fundamental difference between them is that the database is

an organized collection of interrelated data or information about
the considered object. In contrast, the schema is a logical
representation or description of an entire database.

● Once we declare a database schema, we must not change it often

as it would disturb the organization of data stored in the
database. In contrast, we can update the database regularly.

● The database is a collection of schema, records, and constraints

for the tables. On the other hand, a schema contains the structure
of tables, attributes, their types, constraints, and how they relate
to other tables.

1. ● The DDL statement is used to generate and modify the schema. CO2 BT1
On the other hand, DML statements are used to create and
modify the data inside the database.

● Each database uses the memory to store the data, whereas the
schema can use a logical structure to store data.
 What is an entity type? What is an entity set? Explain the
differences among an entity, an entity type, and an entity set.

The entity type refers to the collection of entity that share a

common definition.

Entity set is the set of entities of the same type that share the same
attributes.

E.g. Set of all people who are customer at a particular bank can be
defined as the entity customer, while, Entity set of entities of the
2 same entity type. CO2 BT1

Entity: It is something which has real existence.

Entity Type: It is collection of entity having common attribute.

Also each entity type in a database is described by a name and a
list of attribute. So we may say a table is an entity type

Entity SET: It is a set of entities of same entity type. So a set of

one or more entities of an Entity type is an Entity Set.
 When is the concept of a weak entity used in data modeling?
Define the terms owner entity type, weak entity type, identifying
relationship type, and partial key.

Concept of weak entity types is used in data modeling when we

want to specify a new entity type similar to the one we already
have, but we want this new entity type to have specific attributes
and to be able to participate in specific relationships.

If the newly made entity type doesn't have key attributes, it is

called weak entity type and it needs to be related to a strong entity
type (directly or indirectly) that has: key attributes of its own.

Owner (or identifying) entity type is a title for entity type that
identifies weak entity types related to it. Weak entity types include
one of their attributes when combining with owner entity type.
3 CO2 BT1

Weak entity type is an entity type that does not have key attributes
of its own.

Identifying relationship type is a title for relationship type that

relates one weaker entity type to one owner entity type. In this
relationship type, weak entity has a total participation constraint,
meaning it cannot exist without its owner entity type that identifies
it.

Partial key (or discriminator) is an attribute or set of attributes of a

weak entity type that distinguishes weak entities related to the
same owner entity type.

Can an identifying relationship of a weak entity type be of a degree

greater than two? Give examples to illustrate your answer.

An identifying relationship of a weak entity type can be of a

4 CO2 BT2
degree greater than two. An example of this would be the ternary
relationship of Supply. Supply is a weak entity type that has three
identifying relationships.
 Draw an ER schema diagram for the COMPANY database.

5 CO2 BT1

6 Describe the two alternatives for specifying structural CO2 BT2

constraints on relationship types. What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each?

The two alternatives for specifying structural constraints on

relationship types are :

● Cardinality ratio and

● Participation constraint

Cardinality ratio

Cardinality ratio is a simple way of specifying designs, it is

specifies the maximum number of relationship a body/entity
can be engaged in.

Advantage of Cardinality ratio

It is used to simply complex designs

 Disadvantage of cardinality ratio

No specific number can be said to be maximum

Participation constraint

Participation constraint specifies the dependency of an entity

on another entity based on the relationships existing between
the entities

Advantage of participation constraint

It specifies the minimum number of relationship an entity can

engage

It shows the dependency of an entity on another

Disadvantage

It is a more expensive alternative

Hence we can conclude that The two alternatives for

specifying structural constraints on relationship types are :
Cardinality ratio and

and Participation constraint

Discuss the two main types of constraints on specializations and

generalizations.

Specialization: constraints are generally used to provide limitations

7 BT2
on data which can be used in table for database. Not null, unique
are two constraints used in specialization.
Generalization: it is a bottom up approach and in this constraints CO2
are used to create limitations in data. Check and default are two
constraints used to limit data in generalization.
 What is the difference between specialization and generalization?
Why do we not display this difference in schema diagrams?

Generalization is process of extracting common characteristics

from two or more classes and combining them into a generalized
8 superclass. CO2 BT1
A Specialization is the reverse process of Generalization means
creating new sub classes from an existing class.

Design a database to keep track of information for an art museum.

Assume that the following requirements were collected:
■ The museum has a collection of ART_OBJECTS. Each
ART_OBJECT has a unique Id no, an Artist (if known), a Year
(when it was created, if known), a Title, and a Description. The art
9 CO2 BT1
objects are categorized in several ways, as discussed below.
■ ART_OBJECTS are categorized based on their type. There are
three main types: PAINTING, SCULPTURE, and STATUE, plus
another type called OTHER to accommodate objects that do not
fall into one of the three main types.
10 Discuss about Entity Types, Entity Sets, Keys, and Value Sets with CO2 BT2
examples.

The entity type is a collection of the entity having similar

attributes. In the above Student table example, we have each row
as an entity and they are having common attributes i.e. each row
has its own value for attributes Roll no, Age, Student name and
Mobile no. So, we can define the above STUDENT table as an
entity type because it is a collection of entities having the same
attributes. So, an entity type in an ER diagram is defined by a
name (here, STUDENT) and a set of attributes (here, roll no,
Student name, Age, Mobile no).
Types of Entity type

● Strong Entity Type

● Weak Entity Type

Strong Entity Type: Strong entity are those entity types which
has a key attribute. The primary key helps in identifying each
entity uniquely. It is represented by a rectangle.

Weak Entity Type: Weak entity type doesn't have a key attribute.
Weak entity type can't be identified on its own. It depends upon
some other strong entity for its distinct identity.

Entity Set is a collection of entities of the same entity type. In the

above example of STUDENT entity type, a collection of entities
from the Student entity type would form an entity set. We can say
that entity type is a superset of the entity set as all the entities are
included in the entity type.

A key could either be a combination of more than one attribute (or

columns) or just a single attribute. The main motive of this is to
give each record a unique identity.

There are broadly seven types of keys in DBMS:

1. Primary Key
2. Candidate Key
3. Super Key
4. Foreign Key
5. Composite Key
6. Alternate Key
7. Unique Key
 What are the Constraints on Binary Relationship Types?

The participation constraint specifies whether the existence of an

entity depends on its being related to another entity via the
relationship type. This constraint specifies the minimum number of
relationship instances that each entity can participate in, and is
sometimes called the minimum cardinality constraint. There are
two types of participation constraints—total and partial—that we
illustrate by example. If a company policy states that every
employee must work for a department, then an employee entity
can exist only if it participates in at least one WORKS_FOR
11 relationship instance. Thus, the participation of EMPLOYEE in CO2 BT2
WORKS_FOR is called total participation, meaning that every
entity in the total set of employee entities must be related to a
department entity via WORKS_FOR. Total participation is also
called existence dependency. We do not expect every employee to
manage a department, so the participation of EMPLOYEE in the
MANAGES relationship type is partial, meaning that some or part
of the set of employee entities are related to some department
entity via MANAGES, but not necessarily all.
 Define Weak entity and its types.

● A weak entity is an entity set that does not have sufficient

attributes for Unique Identification of its records.
Example 1 – A loan entity cannot be created for a customer if the
customer doesn’t exist
Example 2 – A dependents list entity cannot be created if the
employee doesn’t exist
● Simply a weak entity is nothing but an entity that does not
have a primary key attribute
● It contains a partial key called a discriminator which
helps in identifying a group of entities from the entity
12 set CO2 BT2
● A discriminator is represented by underlining with
a dashed line
Representation
●
o A double rectangle is used for representing a weak
entity set
o The double diamond symbol is used for
representing the relationship between a strong
entity and a weak entity which is known as
identifying relationship

Explain about the Constraints on Ternary (or Higher-Degree)

Relationships.
There are two notations for specifying structural constraints on n-
ary relationships, and they specify different constraints. They
should thus both be used if it is important to fully specify the
structural constraints on a ternary or higher-degree relationship.
The first notation is based on the cardinality ratio notation of
binary relationships. The second notation is based on the (min,
14 max) notation. A (min, max) on a participation here specifies that CO2 BT2
each entity is related to at least min and at most max relationship
instances in the relation-ship set. These constraints have no bearing
on determining the key of an n-ary relationship, where n > 2, but
specify a different type of constraint that places restrictions on how
many relationship instances each entity can participate in.
 Explain the difference between an attribute and a value set.

The difference between an attribute and a value set is:

An attribute holds values, while a value set are those things which
are contained in a class.
An attribute is the name that is given to the property of a class. On
the other hand, a value set are those things that are used
to represent an object in a given class.
For example, an attribute can have the name "Apples" and can
15 hold the value of "abc" while the value set are those things that can CO2 BT2
be attributed to a class.
An attribute is a characteristic.
For example, Attributes in the invoice can be price, number, date
etc.
A value set specifies the set of values that may be assigned to that
attribute for each individual entry.
 Explain about Relational Model Notations.
We will use the following notation in our presentation:
■ A relation schema R of degree n is denoted by R(A1, A2, ...,
An).
The uppercase letters Q, R, S denote relation names.
■ The lowercase letters q, r, s denote relation states.
■ The letters t, u, v denote tuples.
■ In general, the name of a relation schema such as STUDENT also indicates the
current set of tuples in that relation—the current relation state—whereas
STUDENT(Name, Ssn, ...) refers only to the relation schema.
■ An attribute A can be qualified with the relation name R to which it belongs
by using the dot notation R.A—for example, STUDENT.Name or
STUDENT.Age. This is because the same name may be used for two attributes
16 in different relations. However, all attribute names in a particular relation CO2 BT2
must be distinct.
■ An n-tuple t in a relation r(R) is denoted by t = <v1, v2, ..., vn>, where vi is the
value corresponding to attribute Ai. The following notation refers to
component values of tuples:
■ Both t[Ai] and t.Ai (and sometimes t[i]) refer to the value vi in t for attribute
Ai.
■ Both t[Au, Aw, ..., Az] and t.(Au, Aw, ..., Az), where Au, Aw, ..., Az is a list of
attributes from R, refer to the subtuple of values <vu, vw, ..., vz> from t corresponding
to the attributes specified in the list.
As an example, consider the tuple t = <‘Barbara Benson’, ‘533-69-1238’, ‘(817)839-
8461’, ‘7384 Fontana Lane’, NULL, 19, 3.25> from the STUDENT relation in Figure
3.1; we have t[Name] = <‘Barbara Benson’>, and t[Ssn, Gpa, Age] = <‘533-69-1238’,
3.25, 19>.
PART C (12 Marks)
1 Discuss the role of a high-level data model in the database design BT2
CO2
process.
Define the following terms: entity, attribute, attribute value,
relationship instance, composite attribute, multivalued attribute,
2 CO2 BT2
derived attribute, complex attribute, key attribute, and value set
(domain).
When is the concept of a weak entity used in data modeling?
3 Define the terms owner entity type, weak entity type, identifying CO2 BT2
relationship type, and partial key.
A database is being constructed to keep track of the teams and
games of a sports league. A team has a number of players, not all
of whom participate in each game. It is desired to keep track of the
4 players participating in each game for each team, the positions CO2 BT2
they played in that game, and the result of the game. Design an ER
schema diagram for this application, stating any assumptions you
make. Choose your favorite sport (e.g., soccer, baseball, football).
 Discuss the main categories of data models. What are the basic
5 differences between the relational model, the object model, and the CO2 BT2
XML model?
6 Discuss the naming conventions used for ER schema diagrams. CO2 BT2
Discuss in detail about Key Constraints and Constraints on NULL
7 CO2 BT2
Values with examples.
Explain in detail about the Conversion of ER to Relational Table
8 CO2 BT2
with relevant examples.