Inclusion Dependencies

An inclusion dependency (shortly called as INDs) are the dependencies which

exists when some columns of a relation are contained in other columns (usually of a second
relation). The example of Inclusion dependency is a foreign key constraint or Referential
Integrity Constraint as it states that the referring column(s) in one relation must be contained
in the primary key column(s) of the referenced relation.

Objective of Inclusion Dependencies:

To formalize two types of interrelational constraints which cannot be expressed using F.D.s
or MVDs:
 Referential integrity constraints
 Class/subclass relationships
 An inclusion dependency R.X < S.Y between two sets of attributes ( X of
schema R, and Y of schema S ) specifies the constraint that, at any specific time
where r is a relation state of R and s is a relation state of S, we must have πX(r)
⊆ πY(s) . Here X and Y must have the same number of attributes and the domain
of corresponding attribute must be compatible.
 Examples: DEP.D_MGR_SSN < EMP.SSN  ie, Social Security Number of
managers for a department is always a subset of Social Security Number of
Employees of a department.
Template Dependency can be used to provide a general framework for specifying
dependencies