Fig. 3.9 Assorted usage of the entity-relationship terminology concerning relationships.
The degree of a relationship type concerns the number of entities within each entity type that can
be linked by a given relationship type. Fig 3.10 shows how this degree is shown on an entity
relationship diagram. There are two directions of a relationship type. Each is named and each has
a minimum degree and a maximum degree.
3.6.2.1 Cardinality and Optionality
The maximum degree is called cardinality and the minimum degree is called optionality. In
another context the terms 'degree' and 'cardinality' have different meanings. In [Date 4th ed.
p240] 'degree' is the term used to denote the number of attributes in a relation while `cardinality'
is the number of tuples in a relation. Here, we are not talking about relations (database tables)
but relationship types, the associations between database tables and the real world entity types
they model.
There are three symbols used to show degree. A circle means zero, a line means one and a
crowsfoot means many. The cardinality is shown next to the entity type and the optionality (if
shown at all) is shown behind it. Refer to Fig. 3.10(a). In Fig. 3.10(b) the relationship type R has
cardinality one-to-many because one A is related by R to many Bs and one B is related (by R's
inverse) to one A. Generally, the degree of a relationship type is described by its cardinality. R
would be called a 'one-many' or a 'one-to-many' or a '1 : N' relationship type. To fully describe
the degree of a relationship type however we should also specify its optionality