Database Management Systems Prof. B.

Satyanarayana Reddy

Unit – IV
SCHEMA REFINEMENT (NORMALIZATION) : Purpose of Normalization or schema refinement, concept
of functional dependency, normal forms based on functional dependency(1NF, 2NF and 3 NF), concept of
surrogate key, Boyce-codd normal form(BCNF), Lossless join and dependency preserving decomposition,
Fourth normal form(4NF).

PURPOSE OF NORMALIZATION OR SCHEMA REFINEMENT

Database Normalization is a technique of organizing the data in the database. Normalization is a
systematic approach of decomposing tables to eliminate data redundancy and undesirable characteristics like
Insertion, Update and Deletion Anomalies. It is a multi-step process that puts data into tabular form by
removing duplicated data from the relation tables. If a database design is not perfect, it may contain anomalies,
which are like a bad dream for any database administrator. Managing a database with anomalies is next to
impossible.
Normalization is used for mainly two purpose,
 Eliminating redundant (useless) data.
 Ensuring data dependencies make sense i.e., data is logically stored.

Problem Without Normalization

Without Normalization, it becomes difficult to handle and update the database, without facing data loss.
Insertion, Updation and Deletion Anamolies are very frequent if Database is not Normalized. To understand
these anomalies let us take an example of Student table.
S_id S_name S_Address Subject_opted
401 Kesava Noida JAVA
402 Rama Panipat DBMS
403 Krishna Jammu DBMS
404 Kesava Noida Data Mining

 Updation Anamoly : If data items are scattered and are not linked to each other properly, then it could
lead to strange situations. For example, when we try to update one data item having its copies scattered
over several places, a few instances get updated properly while a few others are left with old values.
Such instances leave the database in an inconsistent state.

Example: To update address of a student who occurs twice or more than twice in a table, we will have
to update S_Address column in all the rows, else data will become inconsistent.

 Insertion Anamoly : We tried to insert data in a record that does not exist at all.

Example: Suppose for a new admission, we have a Student id(S_id), name and address of a student but
if student has not opted for any subjects yet then we have to insert NULL there, leading to Insertion
Anamoly.

 Deletion Anamoly : We tried to delete a record, but parts of it was left undeleted because of
unawareness, the data is also saved somewhere else.

Example: If (S_id) 402 has only one subject and temporarily he drops it, when we delete that row,
entire student record will be deleted along with it.

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CONCEPT OF FUNCTIONAL DEPENDENCY

Functional dependency (FD) is a set of constraints between two attributes in a relation. Functional dependency
says that if two tuples have same values for attributes A1, A2,..., An, then those two tuples must have to have
same values for attributes B1, B2, ..., Bn.
Functional dependency is represented by an arrow sign (→) that is, X→Y, where X functionally determines Y.
The left-hand side attributes determine the values of attributes on the right-hand side.

ARMSTRONG'S AXIOMS
If F is a set of functional dependencies then the closure of F, denoted as F+, is the set of all functional
dependencies logically implied by F. Armstrong's Axioms are a set of rules, that when applied repeatedly,
generates a closure of functional dependencies.
 Reflexive rule − If alpha is a set of attributes and beta is_subset_of alpha, then alpha holds beta.
 Augmentation rule − If a → b holds and y is attribute set, then ay → by also holds. That is adding
attributes in dependencies, does not change the basic dependencies.
 Transitivity rule − Same as transitive rule in algebra, if a → b holds and b → c holds, then a → c also
holds. a → b is called as a functionally that determines b.

TRIVIAL FUNCTIONAL DEPENDENCY

 Trivial − If a functional dependency (FD) X → Y holds, where Y is a subset of X, then it is called a
trivial FD. Trivial FDs always hold.
 Non-trivial − If an FD X → Y holds, where Y is not a subset of X, then it is called a non-trivial FD.
 Completely non-trivial − If an FD X → Y holds, where x intersect Y = Φ, it is said to be a completely
non-trivial FD.

PROPERTIES OF FUNCTIONAL DEPENDENCIES:

1. Reflexive: If Y⊆X then X → Y is a Reflexive Functional Dependency.
Ex: AB→A , A⊆AB holds. Therefore AB→A is a Reflexive Functional Dependency.

2. Augmentation: If X→Y is a functional dependency then by augmentation, XZ→YZ is also a functional

dependency.

3.Transitivity: IF X→Y and Y→Z are two functional dependencies then by transitivity, X→Z is also a
functional dependency.

4. Union: If X→Y and X→Z are two functional dependencies then, X→YZ is also a functional dependency.

5. Decomposition: If X→YZ is a functional dependency then X→Y and X→Z are also functional
dependencies.

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Database Management Systems Prof. B. Satyanarayana Reddy

CLOSURE SET OF A FUNCTIONAL DEPENDENCY (F+)

It is a set of all functional dependencies that can be determined using the given set of dependencies. It is
denoted by F+.
Attribute Closure (X+): It is a set of all the attributes that can be determined using X. It is denoted by X+,
where X is any set of attributes.
Example:
R(A,B,C) F:{A→B , B→C}
A+={A,B,C} B+={B,C} C+={C}
AB+={A,B,C} AC+={A,C,B} BC+={B,C} ABC+={A,B,C}

Identifying keys in the given relation based on Functional Dependencies associated with it
X+ is a set of attributes that can be determined using the given set X of attributes.
 If X+ contains all the attributes of a relation, then X is called "Super key" of that relation.
 If X+ is minimal set, then X is called "Candidate Key" of that relation.
If no closure contains all the elements then in such a case we can find independent attributes of that
relation i.e., the attributes that which are not in the R.H.S. of any dependency. If the closure of the Independent
attributes contains all the elements then it can be treated as a candidate key.
If the closure of independent attributes also doesn't contain all the elements then we try to find the key
by adding dependent attributes one by one. If we couldn't find key then we can add groups of dependent
attributes till we find a key to that relation.

FIRST NORMAL FORM (1NF)

1NF is designed to disallow multi valued attributes, composite attributes and their combinations. Means
1NF allows only atomic values i.e., the attribute of any tuple must be either 1 or NULL value.
A relation having multi valued and composite attributes is known as Un Normalized Relation. Removal
of These multi valued and composite attributes will turn the UN Normalized Relation to 1NF Relation.
Example:
Professor
Un Normalized Relation Since
ID Name Salary salary is a Multi valued
attribute
1 Rama {40000,10000,15000,10000}
We can eliminate this multi valued attribute by splitting the salary column to more specific columns like
Basic, TA, DA, HRA. The Above relation in 1NF is as follows.
Professor
ID Name Basic TA DA HRA 1NF
1 Rama 40000 10000 15000 10000

Every Relation in the Relation Database must be in 1NF.

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Database Management Systems Prof. B. Satyanarayana Reddy

SECOND NORMAL FORM (2NF):

It depends on the concept of Full Functional Dependences(FFD) and disallows Partial Functional
Dependencies(PFD) i.e., for a relation that has concatenated primary key, each attribute in the table that is not
part of the primary key must depend upon the entire concatenated key for its existence. If any attribute depends
only on one part of the concatenated key, then the relation fails Second normal form.
A relation with Partial Functional dependencies can be made as in 2NF by removing them.
PFD: part of key → Non Key
FFD: Key → Non key
Example:
Medication Dependencies
Patient No. Drug No. of units Pname
P1 D1 10 Kiran Patient No. → Pname
P1 D2 20 Kiran
P1 D3 15 Kiran Patient No.,Drug → No. of units

P2 D4 15 Raj

The above relation is in 1NF but not in 2NF. Key for the relation is Patient No. and Drug. After
eliminating the Partial functional dependencies, the decomposed relations are:
Patient Parent Relation Dependencies
Patient No. Pname
P1 Kiran Key: Patient No. Patient No. → Pname
P2 Raj

Medication Child Relation Dependencies

Patient No. Drug No. of units
P1 D1 10 Key: Patient No. and Drug Patient No.,Drug → No. of
Patient No. is Foreign key units
P1 D2 20
referring Patient No. in the
P1 D3 15 Parent Relation (Patient)
P2 D4 15

The above 2 relations satisfy 2NF. They don't have partial functional dependencies.
Note: If key is only one attribute then the relation is always in 2NF.

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THIRD NORMAL FORM (3NF):

Third Normal form applies that every non-prime attribute of a relation must be dependent on primary
key, or we can say that, there should not be the case that a non-prime attribute is determined by another non-
prime attribute. So this transitive functional dependency should be removed from the relation and also the
relation must be in Second Normal form. Simply, It is based on the concept of transitive dependencies. 3NF
disallows the transitive dependencies.
Dependency: Key → Non Key
Transitive Dependency: Non Key → Non Key
A relation satisfying 2NF and with Transitive Functional dependencies can be made as in 3NF by removing the
transitive functional dependencies.
Example:
Contains Key
Patient No. Pname Ward No. Ward Name Patient No. and Pname
P1 Kumar W1 ICU Dependencies
P2 Kiran W1 ICU Patient No.,Pname → Ward No.
P3 Kamal W1 ICU Ward No. → Ward Name (Transitive
Dependency)
P4 Sharath W2 General

Ward No. → Ward Name is transitive because Ward No. is not a key. To make this relation satisfy 3NF
transitive dependency must be removed from it. It can be done by decomposing the relation. The decomposed
relations are as follows:
Ward Key Dependencies
Ward No. Ward Name
W1 ICU Ward No. Ward No. → Ward Name
W2 General

Contains Primary Key Dependencies

Patient No. Pname Ward No. Patient No. and Pname
P1 Kumar W1 Patient No.,Pname → Ward No.
P2 Kiran W1 Foreign Key
P3 Kamal W1 Word No. refers Ward
No. in relation Ward
P4 Sharath W2

The above two relations satisfy 3NF. They don't have transitive dependencies.
Note 1: A relation R is said to be in 3NF if whenever a non trivial functional dependency of the form X → A
holds then either X is a super key or A is a prime attribute.
Note 2: If all attributes are prime attributes then the relation is in 3NFbecause with such attributes no partial
functional dependencies and transitive dependencies exists.

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Database Management Systems Prof. B. Satyanarayana Reddy

BOYCE - CODD NORMAL FORM(BCNF):

BCNF is a higher version of the Third Normal form. This form deals with certain type of anamoly that is not
handled by 3NF. A 3NF relation which does not have multiple overlapping candidate keys is said to be in
BCNF. For a relation to be in BCNF, following conditions must be satisfied:

 R must be in 3rd Normal Form

 and, for each functional dependency ( X -> Y ), X should be a super Key.
(OR)
A relationship is said to be in BCNF if it is already in 3NF and the left hand side of every dependency is a
candidate key. A relation which is in 3NF is almost always in BCNF. These could be same situation when a
3NF relation may not be in BCNF the following conditions are found true.
1. The candidate keys are composite.
2. There are more than one candidate keys in the relation.
3. There are some common attributes in the relation.

Professor Code Department Head of Dept. Percent Time

P1 Physics Ghosh 50
P1 Mathematics Krishnan 50
P2 Chemistry Rao 25
P2 Physics Ghosh 75
P3 Mathematics Krishnan 100

Consider, as an example, the above relation. It is assumed that:

1. A professor can work in more than one department
2. The percentage of the time he spends in each department is given.
3. Each department has only one Head of Department.
Dependencies of the above relation are:
Department,Professor Code → Head of the Depatrment
Department,Professor Code → Percent time
Department → Head of the Depatrment
Head of the Department,Professor Code → Depatrment
Head of the Department,Professor Code → Percent time

The given relation is in 3NF. Observe, however, that the names of Dept. and Head of Dept. are
duplicated. Further, if Professor P2 resigns, rows 3 and 4 are deleted. We lose the information that Rao is the
Head of Department of Chemistry.
The normalization of the relation is done by creating a new relation for Dept. and Head of Dept. and deleting
Head of Dept. form the given relation. The normalized relations are shown in the following.

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Database Management Systems Prof. B. Satyanarayana Reddy

Professor_work Dependencies
Professor Code Department Percent Time Department,Professor Code → Percent time
P1 Physics 50
P1 Mathematics 50 Department is foreign key referring
Department in the Deartment_Details relation
P2 Chemistry 25
P2 Physics 75
P3 Mathematics 100

Depatrment_Details Dependencies
Department Head of Dept. Department → Head of the Department
Physics Ghosh
Mathematics Krishnan
Chemistry Rao

FOURTH NORMAL FORM (4NF)

When attributes in a relation have multi-valued dependency, further Normalization to 4NF and 5NF are
required. A multi-valued dependency is a typical kind of dependency in which each and every attribute within
a relation depends upon the other, yet none of them is a unique primary key. Consider a vendor supplying many
items to many projects in an organization. The following are the assumptions:
1. A vendor is capable of supplying many items.
2. A project uses many items.
3. A vendor supplies to many projects.
4. An item may be supplied by many vendors.
A multi valued dependency exists here because all the attributes depend upon the other and yet none of them is
a primary key having unique value.

Vendor Code Item Code Project No.

V1 I1 P1
V1 I2 P1
V1 I1 P3
V1 I2 P3
V2 I2 P1
V2 I3 P1
V3 I1 P2
V3 I1 P3
The given relation has a number of problems. For example:
1. If vendor V1 has to supply to project P2, but the item is not yet decided, then a row with a blank for
item code has to be introduced.

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2. The information about item I1 is stored twice for vendor V3.

Observe that the relation given is in 3NF and also in BCNF. It still has the problem mentioned above. The
problem is reduced by expressing this relation as two relations in the Fourth Normal Form (4NF). A
relation is in 4NF if it has no more than one independent multi valued dependency or one independent
multi valued dependency with a functional dependency.
The table can be expressed as the two 4NF relations given as following. The fact that vendors are capable
of supplying certain items and that they are assigned to supply for some projects in independently specified
in the 4NF relation.

Vendor_Supply Vendor_Project
Vendor Code Item Code Vendor Code Project No.
V1 I1 V1 P1
V1 I2 V1 P3
V2 I2 V2 P1
V2 I3 V3 P2
V3 I1 .

SUMMARY
Input Transformation Output
Relation Relation
All Relations Eliminate variable length record. Remove multi-attribute lines in table. 1NF
1NF Remove dependency of non-key attributes on part of a multi-attribute key. 2NF
2NF Remove dependency of non-key attributes on other non-key attributes. 3NF
3NF Remove dependency of an attribute of a multi attribute key on an attribute of BCNF
another (overlapping) multi-attribute key.
BCNF Remove more than one independent multi-valued dependency from relation 4NF
by splitting relation.
4NF Add one relation relating attributes with multi-valued dependency. 5NF

PROPERTIES OF DECOMPOSITION:
Every Decomposition must satisfy 2 properties.
1. Lossless join
2. Dependency Preserving
1. Lossless join:
If we decompose a relation R into relations R1 and R2,
 Decomposition is lossy if R1 ⋈ R2 ⊃ R
 Decomposition is lossless if R1 ⋈ R2 = R
To check for lossless join decomposition using FD set, following conditions must hold:
1. Union of Attributes of R1 and R2 must be equal to attribute of R. Each attribute of R must be either in R1
or in R2. Att(R1) U Att(R2)=Att(R)

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Database Management Systems Prof. B. Satyanarayana Reddy

2. Intersection of Attributes of R1 and R2 must not be NULL. Att(R1) ∩ Att(R2) ≠ Φ

3. Common attribute must be a key for at least one relation (R1 or R2) Att(R1) ∩ Att(R2) -> Att(R1)
or Att(R1) ∩ Att(R2) -> Att(R2)

For Example, A relation R (A, B, C, D) with FD set {A->BC} is decomposed into R1(ABC) and R2(AD) which
is a lossless join decomposition as:
1. First condition holds true as Att(R1) U Att(R2) = (ABC) U (AD) = (ABCD) = Att(R).
2. Second condition holds true as Att(R1) ∩ Att(R2) = (ABC) ∩ (AD) ≠ Φ
3. Third condition holds true as Att(R1) ∩ Att(R2) = A is a key of R1(ABC) because A->BC is given.

Dependency Preserving Decomposition

If we decompose a relation R into relations R1 and R2, All dependencies of R either must be a part of
R1 or R2 or must be derivable from combination of FD’s of R1 and R2.
For Example, A relation R (A, B, C, D) with FD set{A->BC} is decomposed into R1(ABC) and R2(AD)
which is dependency preserving because FD A->BC is a part of R1(ABC).

Decomposition of a relation is done when a relation in relational model is not in appropriate normal form.
Relation R is decomposed into two or more relations if decomposition is lossless join as well as dependency
preserving.

CONCEPT OF SURROGATE KEY:

In database design, it is a good practice to have a primary key for each table. There are two ways to specify a
primary key: The first is to use part of the data as the primary key. For example, a table that includes
information on employees may use Social Security Number as the primary key. This type of key is called a
natural key. The second is to use a new field with artificially-generated values whose sole purpose is to be used
as a primary key. This is called a surrogate key.
A surrogate key has the following characteristics:
1) It is typically an integer.
2) It has no meaning. You will not be able to know the meaning of that row of data based on the surrogate
key value.
3) It is not visible to end users. End users should not see a surrogate key in a report.
Surrogate keys can be generated in a variety of ways, and most databases offer ways to generate
surrogate keys. For ex, Oracle uses SEQUENCE , MySQL uses AUTO_INCREMENT , and SQL Server uses
IDENTITY.
Surrogate keys are often used in data warehousing systems, as the high data volume in a data warehouse
means that optimizing query speed becomes important. Using a surrogate key is advantageous because it is
quicker to join on a numeric field rather than a non-numeric field. This does come at a price — when you insert
data into a table, whether via an ETL Process or via an "IINSERT INTO" statement, the system needs to take
more resources to generate the surrogate key.
There are no hard rules on when to employ a surrogate key as opposed to using the natural key. Often
the data architect would need to look at the nature of the data being modeled and stored and consider any
possible performance implications.

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