Chapter Summary
n Normalization is a technique for producing a set of relations with desirable properties, given the data requirements
of an enterprise. Normalization is a formal method that can be used to identify relations based on their
keys and the functional dependencies among their attributes.
n Relations with data redundancy suffer from update anomalies, which can be classified as insertion, deletion,
and modification anomalies.
n One of the main concepts associated with normalization is functional dependency, which describes the relationship
between attributes in a relation. For example, if A and B are attributes of relation R, B is functionally
dependent on A (denoted A → B), if each value of A is associated with exactly one value of B. (A and B may
each consist of one or more attributes.)
n The determinant of a functional dependency refers to the attribute, or group of attributes, on the left-hand
side of the arrow.
n The main characteristics of functional dependencies that we use for normalization have a one-to-one relationship
between attribute(s) on the left- and right-hand sides of the dependency, hold for all time, and are
fully functionally dependent.
n Unnormalized Form (UNF) is a table that contains one or more repeating groups.
n First Normal Form (1NF) is a relation in which the intersection of each row and column contains one and
only one value.
n Second Normal Form (2NF) is a relation that is in First Normal Form and every non-primary-key attribute
is fully functionally dependent on the primary key. Full functional dependency indicates that if A and B are
attributes of a relation, B is fully functionally dependent on A if B is functionally dependent on A but not on
any proper subset of A.
Third Normal Form (3NF) is a relation that is in First and Second Normal Form in which no non-primarykey
attribute is transitively dependent on the primary key. Transitive dependency is a condition where A, B,
and C are attributes of a relation such that if A → B and B → C, then C is transitively dependent on A via B
(provided that A is not functionally dependent on B or C).
n General definition for Second Normal Form (2NF) is a relation that is in First Normal Form and every
non-candidate-key attribute is fully functionally dependent on any candidate key. In this definition, a
candidate-key attribute is part of any candidate key.
n General definition for Third Normal Form (3NF) is a relation that is in First and Second Normal Form in
which no non-candidate-key attribute is transitively dependent on any candidate key. In this definition, a
candidate-key attribute is part of any candidate key.