Functional Dependency and Normalization

Functional Dependency
The functional dependency is a relationship that exists between two attributes. It
typically exists between the primary key and non-key attribute within a table.

The left side of FD is known as a determinant, the right side of the production is
known as a dependent.

For example:

Assume we have an employee table with attributes: Emp_Id, Emp_Name,

Emp_Address.

Here Emp_Id attribute can uniquely identify the Emp_Name attribute of employee
table because if we know the Emp_Id, we can tell that employee name associated
with it.

Functional dependency can be written as:

We can say that Emp_Name is functionally dependent on Emp_Id.

Types of Functional dependency

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 1. Trivial functional dependency
o A → B has trivial functional dependency if B is a subset of A.
o The following dependencies are also trivial like: A → A, B → B

Example:

2. Non-trivial functional dependency

o A → B has a non-trivial functional dependency if B is not a subset of A.
o When A intersection B is NULL, then A → B is called as complete non-trivial.

Example:

Inference Rule (IR):

o The Armstrong's axioms are the basic inference rule.
o Armstrong's axioms are used to conclude functional dependencies on a
relational database.
o The inference rule is a type of assertion. It can apply to a set of FD(functional
dependency) to derive other FD.
o Using the inference rule, we can derive additional functional dependency
from the initial set.

The Functional dependency has 6 types of inference rule:

1. Reflexive Rule (IR1)

In the reflexive rule, if Y is a subset of X, then X determines Y.

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2. Augmentation Rule (IR2)
The augmentation is also called as a partial dependency. In augmentation, if X
determines Y, then XZ determines YZ for any Z.

3. Transitive Rule (IR3)

In the transitive rule, if X determines Y and Y determine Z, then X must also
determine Z.

4. Union Rule (IR4)

Union rule says, if X determines Y and X determines Z, then X must also determine
Y and Z.

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5. Decomposition Rule (IR5)
Decomposition rule is also known as project rule. It is the reverse of union rule.

This Rule says, if X determines Y and Z, then X determines Y and X determines Z

separately.

6. Pseudo transitive Rule (IR6)

In Pseudo transitive Rule, if X determines Y and YZ determines W, then XZ

determines W.

Normalization
o Normalization is the process of organizing the data in the database.
o Normalization is used to minimize the redundancy from a relation or set of
relations. It is also used to eliminate the undesirable characteristics like
Insertion, Update and Deletion Anomalies.
o Normalization divides the larger table into the smaller table and links them
using relationship.
o The normal form is used to reduce redundancy from the database table.

Types of Normal Forms

There are the four types of normal forms:

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next →← prev

First Normal Form (1NF)

o A relation will be 1NF if it contains an atomic value.

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 o It states that an attribute of a table cannot hold multiple values. It must
hold only single-valued attribute.
o First normal form disallows the multi-valued attribute, composite attribute,
and their combinations.

Example: Relation EMPLOYEE is not in 1NF because of multi-valued attribute

EMP_PHONE.

The decomposition of the EMPLOYEE table into 1NF has been shown below:

Second Normal Form (2NF)

o In the 2NF, relational must be in 1NF.

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 o In the second normal form, all non-key attributes are fully functional
dependent on the primary key

Example: Let's assume, a school can store the data of teachers and the subjects
they teach. In a school, a teacher can teach more than one subject.

TEACHER table

In the given table, non-prime attribute TEACHER_AGE is dependent on TEACHER_ID

which is a proper subset of a candidate key. That's why it violates the rule for 2NF.

To convert the given table into 2NF, we decompose it into two tables:

TEACHER_DETAIL table:

TEACHER_SUBJECT table:

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Third Normal Form (3NF)
o A relation will be in 3NF if it is in 2NF and not contain any transitive partial
dependency.
o 3NF is used to reduce the data duplication. It is also used to achieve the data
integrity.
o If there is no transitive dependency for non-prime attributes, then the relation
must be in third normal form.

A relation is in third normal form if it holds atleast one of the following conditions for
every non-trivial function dependency X → Y.

1. X is a super key.
2. Y is a prime attribute, i.e., each element of Y is part of some candidate key.

Example:

EMPLOYEE_DETAIL table:

Super key in the table above:

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Candidate key: {EMP_ID}

Non-prime attributes: In the given table, all attributes except EMP_ID are non-
prime.

Here, EMP_STATE & EMP_CITY dependent on EMP_ZIP and EMP_ZIP dependent on

EMP_ID. The non-prime attributes (EMP_STATE, EMP_CITY) transitively dependent on
super key(EMP_ID). It violates the rule of third normal form.

That's why we need to move the EMP_CITY and EMP_STATE to the new
<EMPLOYEE_ZIP> table, with EMP_ZIP as a Primary key.

EMPLOYEE table:

EMPLOYEE_ZIP table:

Boyce Codd normal form (BCNF)

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 o BCNF is the advance version of 3NF. It is stricter than 3NF.
o A table is in BCNF if every functional dependency X → Y, X is the super key of
the table.
o For BCNF, the table should be in 3NF, and for every FD, LHS is super key.

Example: Let's assume there is a company where employees work in more than
one department.

EMPLOYEE table:

In the above table Functional dependencies are as follows:

Candidate key: {EMP-ID, EMP-DEPT}

The table is not in BCNF because neither EMP_DEPT nor EMP_ID alone are keys.

To convert the given table into BCNF, we decompose it into three tables:

EMP_COUNTRY table:

EMP_DEPT table:

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EMP_DEPT_MAPPING table:

Functional dependencies:

Candidate keys:

For the first table: EMP_ID

For the second table: EMP_DEPT
For the third table: {EMP_ID, EMP_DEPT}

Now, this is in BCNF because left side part of both the functional dependencies is a
key.

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