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Chapter Six
Functional Dependency and Normalization
 Normalization
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 Normalization is a mathematically rich and scientific

process that reduces data redundancy.

• Normalization is a process that “improves” a database

design by generating relations that are of higher normal
forms.
• The objective of normalization is “to create relations
where every dependency is on the key, the whole key, and
nothing but the key”.

We discuss four normal forms: 1NF, 2NF, 3NF, and
BCNF
 Normalization
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There is a sequence to normal forms:

 1NF is considered the weakest,
 2NF is stronger than 1NF,
 3NF is stronger than 2NF, and
 BCNF is considered the strongest

Also,
 any relation that is in BCNF, is in 3NF;
 any relation in 3NF is in 2NF; and
 any relation in 2NF is in 1NF.
 Levels of Normalization
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 Levels of normalization based on the amount of
redundancy in the database.
 Various levels of normalization are:
 First Normal Form (1NF)
 Second Normal Form (2NF)

Redundancy

Number of Tables
 Third Normal Form (3NF)

Complexity
 Boyce-Codd Normal Form (BCNF)
 Fourth Normal Form (4NF)
 Fifth Normal Form (5NF)
 Domain Key Normal Form (DKNF)

Most databases should be 3NF or BCNF in order to avoid the

database anomalies.
 Normalization
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1NF a relation in BCNF, is also

in 3NF
2NF a relation in 3NF is also in
2NF
3NF
a relation in 2NF is also in
1NF
BCNF
 Normalization
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 We consider a relation in BCNF to be fully normalized.

 The benefit of higher normal forms is that update semantics for the

affected data are simplified.

 This means that applications required to maintain the database are

simpler.
 A design that has a lower normal form than another design has

more redundancy. Uncontrolled redundancy can lead to data

integrity problems.
 First we introduce the concept of functional dependency
 Functional Dependencies
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 Functional Dependencies

 We say an attribute, B, has a functional dependency on another attribute, A, if for

any two records, which have the same value for A, then the values for B in these
two records must be the same. We illustrate this as:
 A B
 Example: Suppose we keep track of employee email addresses, and we only track
one email address for each employee. Suppose each employee is identified by
their unique employee number. We say there is a functional dependency of email
address on employee number:
 employee number  email address
 Functional Dependencies
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EmpNum EmpEmail EmpFname EmpLname

123 [email protected] John Doe
456 [email protected] Peter Smith
555 [email protected] Alan Lee
633 [email protected] Peter Doe
787 [email protected] Alan Lee

If EmpNum is the PK then the FDs:

EmpNum  EmpEmail
EmpNum  EmpFname
EmpNum  EmpLname
must exist.
 Functional Dependencies
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EmpNum  EmpEmail
.

EmpNum  EmpFname 3 different ways

EmpNum  EmpLname you might see FDs
depicted
EmpEmail
EmpNum EmpFname
EmpLname

EmpNum EmpEmail EmpFname EmpLname

 Determinant
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Functional Dependency

EmpNum  EmpEmail

Attribute on the LHS is known as the determinant

• EmpNum is a determinant of EmpEmail
 Transitive dependency
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Transitive dependency

Consider attributes A, B, and C, and where

A  B and B  C.

Functional dependencies are transitive, which means that we also have

the functional dependency AC

We say that C is transitively dependent on A through B.

 Transitive dependency
EmpNum  DeptNum 12

EmpNum EmpEmail DeptNum DeptNname

DeptNum  DeptName

EmpNum EmpEmail DeptNum DeptNname

DeptName is transitively dependent on EmpNum via DeptNum

EmpNum  DeptName
 Partial dependency
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.

A partial dependency exists when an attribute B is

functionally dependent on an attribute A, and A is a
component of a multipart candidate key.

InvNum LineNum Qty InvDate

Candidate keys: {InvNum, LineNum} InvDate is

partially dependent on {InvNum, LineNum} as
InvNum is a determinant of InvDate and InvNum is
part of a candidate key
 First Normal Form
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First Normal Form

 We say a relation is in 1NF if all values stored in the relation

are single-valued and atomic.
 1NF places restrictions on the structure of relations.
 Values must be simple.
 All the key attributes are defined.
 There are no repeating groups in the table.
 All attributes are dependent on the primary key.
 First Normal Form
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The following in not in 1NF

EmpNum EmpPhone EmpDegrees

123 233-9876
333 233-1231 BA, BSc, PhD
679 233-1231 BSc, MSc

EmpDegrees is a multi-valued field:

employee 679 has two degrees: BSc and MSc
employee 333 has three degrees: BA, BSc, PhD
 First Normal Form
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. EmpNum EmpPhone EmpDegrees

123 233-9876
333 233-1231 BA, BSc, PhD
679 233-1231 BSc, MSc

To obtain 1NF relations we must, without loss of

information, replace the above with two relations - see next
slide
 First Normal Form
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EmployeeDegree
Employee
EmpNum EmpDegree
EmpNum EmpPhone
333 BA
123 233-9876
333 BSc
333 233-1231
333 PhD
679 233-1231
679 BSc
679 MSc

An outer join between Employee and EmployeeDegree will

produce the information we saw before
Examples (Unnormalized Table)
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Examples(1NF)
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 Second Normal Form
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Second Normal Form

 A relation is in 2NF if it is in 1NF, and every non-key attribute is fully

dependent on each candidate key. (That is, we don’t have any partial
functional dependency.)
• 2NF (and 3NF) both involve the concepts of key and non-key
attributes.
• A key attribute is any attribute that is part of a key; any attribute
that is not a key attribute, is a non-key attribute.
• Relations that are not in BCNF have data redundancies
• A relation in 2NF will not have any partial dependencies
 Second Normal Form
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Consider this InvLine table (in 1NF):
.

InvNum LineNum ProdNum Qty InvDate

InvNum, LineNum ProdNum, Qty
There are two
candidate keys.
Qty is the only non-
key attribute, and it is
InvNum InvDate
dependent on InvNum
Since there is a determinant that is not a
candidate key, InvLine is not BCNF
InvLine is
InvLine is not 2NF since there is a partial only in 1NF
dependency of InvDate on InvNum
 Second Normal Form
InvLine 22
.

InvNum LineNum ProdNum Qty InvDate

The above relation has redundancies: the invoice date is
repeated on each invoice line.
We can improve the database by decomposing the relation
into two relations:
InvNum LineNum ProdNum Qty

InvNum InvDate

Question: What is the highest normal form for these

relations? 2NF? 3NF? BCNF?
 23

Is the following relation in 2NF?

inv_no line_no prod_no prod_desc qty

 24

2NF, but not in 3NF, nor in BCNF:

EmployeeDept
ename ssn bdate address dnumber dname

since dnumber is not a candidate key and we have:

dnumber  dname.
Example(2NF)
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 Third Normal Form
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Third Normal Form

• A relation is in 3NF if the relation is in 2NF and all determinants of

non-key attributes are candidate keys
 That is, for any functional dependency: X  Y, where Y is a non-key
attribute (or a set of non-key attributes), X is a candidate key.
• This definition of 3NF differs from BCNF only in the specification of
non-key attributes - 3NF is weaker than BCNF. (BCNF requires all
determinants to be candidate keys.)
• A relation in 3NF will not have any transitive dependencies of non-
key attribute on a candidate key through another non-key attribute.
Consider this Employee relation
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.

Candidate keys
are? …
EmpNum EmpName DeptNum DeptName

EmpName, DeptNum, and DeptName are non-key attributes.

DeptNum determines DeptName, a non-key attribute, and
DeptNum is not a candidate key.

Is the relation in 3NF? … no Is the relation in BCNF? … no

Is the relation in 2NF? … yes
 Third Normal Form
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.

EmpNum EmpName DeptNum DeptName

We correct the situation by decomposing the original relation

into two 3NF relations. Note the decomposition is lossless.

EmpNum EmpName DeptNum DeptNum DeptName

Verify these two relations are in 3NF.

 29
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In 3NF, but not in BCNF:

Instructor teaches one course
only.
student_no course_no instr_no
Student takes a course and has
one instructor.

{student_no, course_no}  instr_no

instr_no  course_no

since we have instr_no  course-no, but instr_no is not a

Candidate key.
Example (3NF)
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 31

student_no course_no instr_no

BC
NF

student_no instr_no

course_no instr_no

{student_no, instr_no}  student_no

{student_no, instr_no}  instr_no
instr_no  course_no
 Boyce-Codd Normal Form
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Boyce-Codd Normal Form

 BCNF is defined very simply:

 A relation is in BCNF if it is in 3NF and
 If every determinant is a candidate key.
 If our database will be used for OLTP (on line transaction
processing), then BCNF is our target. Usually, we meet
this objective. However, we might denormalize (3NF,
2NF, or 1NF) for performance reasons.
Example
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Examples: BCNF (UNF)
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Here there are set of

candidate keys
SSN and major which is
determinant of Advisor
or SSN and Advisor is
used as determinant to
describe Major
SSN Advisor
Major Advisor
(SSN, Advisor)Major
BCNF
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Summary
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Any Question?