4NF (Multivalued Dependency), and

5NF (Join Dependency)

Review

Superkey a set of attributes which will

uniquely identify each tuple in a relation
Candidate key a minimal superkey
Primary key a chosen candidate key
Secondary key all the rest of candidate keys
Prime attribute an attribute that is a part of
a candidate key (key column)
Non-prime attribute a non-key column

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Review (cont.)
1NF

Eliminate repeating groups.

Make a separate table for each set of related attributes, and give each table a
primary key.

2NF

Eliminate redundant data.

Each attribute must be functionally dependent on the primary key.

If an attribute depends on only part of a multi-valued key, remove it to a
separate table.

3NF

Eliminate columns not dependent on key.

If attributes do not contribute to a description of the key, remove them to a

separate table.
Any transitive dependencies are moved into a smaller table.

BCNF

Every determinant in the table is a candidate key.

If there are non-trivial dependencies between candidate key attributes, separate

them out into distinct tables.

All normal forms are additive, in that if a model is in 3NF, it

is by definition also in 2NF and 1NF.

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4NF

Definition

A relation R is in 4NF if and only if, for every one

of its non-trivial multivalued dependencies
XY, X is a superkeythat is, X is either a
candidate key or a superset thereof.

1.
2.

Nontrivial MVD means that:

Y is not a subset of X, and
X and Y are not, together, all the attributes.

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Decomposition into 4NF

If XY is a 4NF violation for relation R, we

can decompose R using the same technique
as for BCNF.
1.
2.

XY is one of the decomposed relations.

All but Y X is the other.

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Decomposition into 4NF Method

Find a 4NF violation in R, say AB, where A
is not a superkey.
If there is such a 4NF violation, break the
schema for the relation R that has the 4NF
violation into two schemas.

1.
2.

R1, whose schema is As and Bs.

R2, whose schema is the As and all attributes of
R that are not among the As or Bs.

Find the FDs and MVDs that hold in R1 and

R2. Recursively decompose R1 and R2 with
respect to their projected dependencies.
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4NF Decomposition Example

Drinkers(name, addr, phones, beersLiked)
FD:
nameaddr
MVDs:
namephones
namebeersLiked
Key is {name, phones, beersLiked}.
All dependencies violate 4NF.

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4NF Decomposition Example (cont.)

Decompose using nameaddr:
Drinkers1(name, addr)

1.

Drinkers2(name, phones, beersLiked)

2.

In 4NF; only dependency is nameaddr.

Not in 4NF. MVDs namephones and
namebeersLiked apply. No FDs, so all
three attributes form the key.

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4NF Decomposition Example (cont.)

Decompose Drinkers2

Either MVD name ->-> phones or name ->->

beersLiked tells us to decompose to:

Drinkers3(name, phones)
Drinkers4(name, beersLiked)

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MVD Example
Drinkers(name, addr, phones, beersLiked)
A drinkers phones are independent of the
beers they like.

namephones and namebeersLiked.

Thus, each of a drinkers phones appears with

each of the beers they like in all combinations.

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MVD Example (cont.)

Tuples

Implied by namephones

If we have tuples:

name
sue a
sue a
sue a
sue a

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addr phones beersLiked

p1
b1
p2
b2
p2
b1
p1
b2

Then these tuples must also be in the relation.

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Example
Drinkers(name, addr, phones, beersLiked)
with MVD Name phones. If Drinkers has
the two tuples:
name
sue
sue

addr phones
a
p1
b1
a
p2
b2

beersLiked

it must also have the same tuples with phones

components swapped:
name addr phones
sue
a
p2
b1
sue
a
p1
b2

beersLiked

Note: we must check this condition for all pairs

of
name,University
not just one pair.
12 tuples that agree on Narotama

Example (contd)

Violates 4NF because CUSTOMER is not a

superkey
(and CUSTOMER->->LOAN_NO is non-trivial)

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Solution:

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HIGHER NORMAL FORMS

1NF

2NF 3NF BCNF 4NF 5NF

functional
dependencies
multivalued
dependencies
join
dependencies
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ASSUMPTIONS
24-HOUR FLIGHT-TIMETABLE, ALL FLIGHTS EVERY DAY
ALL PLANES TAKE-OFF AND LAND (BUT DO NOT CRASH)
NO AIRPORT IS LANDING-ONLY & NO AIRPORT IS TAKE-OFF-ONLY
TTAB (ORG) = TTAB (DST)
THERE IS AT LEAST ONE TIME DELAY ENTRY FOR EVERY FLIGHT
SIMILARLY IN WEATHER REPORT HISTORY
IF NO TWO FLIGHTS CAN TAKE OFF AT THE SAME TIME IN THE SAME AIRPORT
WES CAN BE POSTED TO FLIGHT AND WEATHER@ORIGIN ELIMINATED

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AWARD
UNIVERSITY

DISCIPLINE DEGREE

Old Town

Computing

BSc

Old Town

Mathematics

PhD

New City

Computing

PhD

Old Town

Computing

PhD

teaches (UNIVERSITY, DISCIPLINE)

is_read_for (DISCIPLINE, DEGREE)
awards (UNIVERSITY, DEGREE)

teaches (NewCity, Computing) = true

awards (NewCity, PhD) = true
is_read_for (Computing, BSc) = true

FROM
(NewCity teaches Computing) and (Computing is_read_for BSc)
IT DOES NOT FOLLOW
NewCity awards BSc for_reading Computing

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AWARD

UNIVERS ITY DIS CIPLINE

Old Town
Old Town

Computing

DIS CIPLINE DEGREE UNIVERS ITY DEGREE

Computing

Mathematic s Mathematic s

New City

Computing

Computing

UNIVERS ITY DIS CIPLINE

BS c

Old Town

BS c

PhD

Old Town

PhD

PhD

New City

PhD

DEGREE

Old Town

Computing

BS c

Old Town

Computing

PhD

Old Town

Mathematic s

PhD

New City

Computing

BS c

New City

Computing

PhD

spurious
tuple

UNIVERS ITY DIS CIPLINE

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DEGREE

Old Town

Computing

BS c

Old Town

Computing

PhD

Old Town

Mathematic s

PhD

New City

Computing

PhD

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Join Dependency
JD * (R1, R2, R3, ..., Rm) holds in R iff R = join (R1, R2, R3, ..., Rm ), Ri - a projection of R
for

if

R1

R2

then
)

JD*(
holds for R

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Fifth Normal Form

preventingillogicalconjunctionoffacts

A relation R is in 5NF iff

for all JD * (R1, R2, R3, ..., Rm) in R,
every Ri is a superkey for R.

if
JD* (

) holds for R

,
does not contain key

then R is not in 5NF

if
JD* (

JD* (

)
)

then R is in 5NF

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AWARD

UNIVERSITY

DISCIPLINE

DISCIPLINE

DEGREE

UNIVERSITY

DEGREE

Old Town

Computing

Computing

BSc

Old Town

BSc

Old Town

Mathematics

Mathematics

PhD

Old Town

PhD

New City

Computing

Computing

PhD

New City

PhD

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RANKING
NAME

CODE

TEACHING

RES EARCH

Old Town

P05

21

New City

C01

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candidate keys - NAME or CODE

join dependencies
JD1 * ((NAME, CODE, TEACHING), (NAME, RESEARCH))
JD2 * ((NAME, CODE, RESEARCH), (NAME, TEACHING))
JD3 * ((NAME, CODE, TEACHING), (CODE, RESEARCH))
JD4 * ((NAME, CODE, RESEARCH), (CODE, TEACHING))
JD5 * ((NAME, CODE), (NAME, TEACHING), (CODE,RESEARCH))
.............................................................................................
all projections in JD1 - to JD5 are superkeys for RANKING 5NF

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Summary

A multivalued dependency is a statement that

two sets of attributes in a relation have sets of
values that appear in all possible
combinations.
If a relation is in 4NF, then every nontrivial
MVD is really an FD with a superkey on the
left.

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References

http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/~lee/cs157b/Spring09
Presentation/4NF_and_Multivalued_Dependency
_by_Kristina_Miguel.ppt
http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/faculty/lee/cs157/4N
F%20and%205NF.ppt

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