ICT200

INTRODUCTION TO DATABASE
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

By :
Miss Noorfadzilah Arifin

Chapter 3 The Relational Database Model

 Tables and Their Characteristics
2

 Table: two-dimensional structure

composed of rows and columns

 Contains group of related entities = an

entity set
✓ Terms entity set and table are often used
interchangeably
 Tables and Their Characteristics
3

 Table also called a relation because the

relational model’s creator, Codd, used the
term relation as a synonym for table

 Think of a table as a persistent relation:

✓ A relation whose contents can be permanently
saved for future use
 Tables and Their Characteristics
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 Tables and Their Characteristics
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 Keys
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 Consists of one or more attributes that

determine other attributes

 Primary key (PK) is an attribute (or a

combination of attributes) that uniquely
identifies any given entity (row)

 Key’s role is based on a concept known as

determination
✓ If you know the value of attribute A, you can look
up (determine) the value of attribute B
 Keys
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 A ➔B
✓ A determines B
✓ B is functionally dependent on A

 A ➔ B,C,D
✓ attribute A determines attributes B,C,D
✓ B,C,D are functionally dependent on A

 A,B ➔ C
✓ attributes A,B determine attribute C
✓ attributes C is fully functionally dependent on A,B
 Keys
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 Composite key
✓ Composed of more than one attribute OR multi-
attribute key
 Key attribute
✓ Any attribute that is part of a key
 Superkey
✓ Any key that uniquely identifies each row
 Candidate key
✓ A superkey without redundancies OR a minimal
superkey
 Keys
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 Foreign key (FK)

✓ An attribute whose values match primary key
values in the related table

 Referential integrity
✓ FK contains a value that refers to an existing
valid row in another relation

 Secondary key
✓ Key used strictly for data retrieval purposes
 Keys
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 Nulls:
✓ No data entry
✓ Not permitted in primary key
✓ Should be avoided in other attributes
✓ If used improperly, can create problems because they
have many different meanings. For example, can
represent
◼ An unknown attribute value
◼ A known, but missing, attribute value
◼ A “not applicable” condition
✓ Can create problems when functions such as COUNT,
AVERAGE, and SUM are used
✓ Can create logical problems when relational tables are
linked
 Keys
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✓ Controlled redundancy make the relational db work

✓ Referential integrity means that if the foreign key contains
value that refers to an existing row in another relation
 Keys
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 Keys
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 Integrity Rules
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 Integrity Rules
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 Integrity Rules
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✓ To avoid nulls, some designers are used special codes,

known as flags which is to indicate the absence of some
value/does not yet assigned

✓ Ex: If such a flag is used, the AGENT table must contain

a dummy row with an AGENT_CODE value of -99.

✓ The AGENT table’s first record might contain the values.

 The Data Dictionary and
System Catalog
17

 Data dictionary

✓ Provides detailed accounting of all tables found

within the user/designer-created database

✓ Contains (at least) all the attribute names and

characteristics for each table in the system

✓ Contains metadata—data about data

✓ Sometimes described as “the database designer’s

database” because it records the design decisions
about tables and their structures
 The Data Dictionary and
System Catalog
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A Sample Data Dictionary

 The Data Dictionary and
System Catalog
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 System catalog

✓ Contains metadata

✓ Detailed system data dictionary that describes all

objects within the database (ex: data about tables
name, the table’s creator and creation date, the
number of columns in each table and etc)

✓ Terms “system catalog” and “data dictionary” are

often used interchangeably

✓ Can be queried just like any user/designer-created

table
 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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 1:M relationship
✓ Relational modeling ideal
✓ Should be the norm in any relational database
design
 1:1 relationship
✓ Should be rare in any relational database design
 M:N relationships
✓ Cannot be implemented as such in the relational
model
✓ M:N relationships can be changed into two set of
1:M relationships
 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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The 1:M Relationship

 Relational database norm

 Found in any database environment
 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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The 1:M Relationship

 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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The 1:M Relationship

✓ 1:M relationship is easily implemented in the relational model by putting the

primary key of the “1” side in the table of the “many” side as a foreign key
 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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The 1:1 Relationship

 One entity can be related to only one other

entity, and vice versa

 Sometimes means that entity components were

not defined properly

 As rare as 1:1 relationships should be, certain

conditions absolutely require their use
 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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The 1:1 Relationship

 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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The M:N Relationship

 More troublesome proposition in the relational
environment

 Can be implemented by breaking it up to produce a

set of 1:M relationships

 Can avoid problems inherent to M:N relationship

by creating a composite entity or bridge entity
 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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The M:N Relationship

 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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The M:N Relationship

 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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The M:N Relationship

 Implementation of a composite entity

 Yields required M:N to 1:M conversion

 Composite entity table must contain at least the

primary keys of original tables

 Linking table contains multiple occurrences of

the foreign key values

 Additional attributes may be assigned as

needed
 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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The M:N Relationship

 Relationships within the Relational
Database
31

The M:N Relationship

 Relationships within the Relational
Database
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The M:N Relationship

 Data Redundancy Revisited
33

 Data redundancy leads to data anomalies

✓ Such anomalies can destroy the
effectiveness of the database

 Foreign keys
✓ Control data redundancies by using common
attributes shared by tables

 Sometimes, data redundancy is necessary

Data Redundancy Revisited

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Data Redundancy Revisited

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 Indexes
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 Arrangement used to logically access rows

in a table
 Index key
✓ Index’s reference point

✓ Points to data location identified by the key

 Unique index
✓ Index in which the index key can have only one pointer
value (row) associated with it

 A table can have many indexes, but each

index is associated with only one table
 Indexes
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