NORMALIZATION
ABHIRAMI T
• candidate key is a set of one or more attributes (columns)
that can uniquely identify a tuple (row) in a relation (table).
A primary key is one candidate key that is chosen to
uniquely identify tuples within a relation
• A super key is a set of one or more attributes (columns) that, taken together,
uniquely identify tuples (rows) within a relation (table). In other words, a
super key is a superset of a candidate key. It can contain more attributes
than needed to uniquely identify tuples. Any combination of attributes that
includes a candidate key is considered a super key. For example, if a relation
has attributes A, B, and C, and {A, B} is a candidate key, then {A, B, C} and
{A, B, C, D} are both super keys.
Database normalization
• Database normalization is a database design principle
for organizing data in an organized and consistent way.
• It helps you avoid redundancy and maintain the
integrity of the database.
• It also helps you eliminate undesirable characteristics
associated with insertion, deletion, and updating.
• The main purpose of database normalization is to avoid
complexities, eliminate duplicates, and organize data in
a consistent way.
• In normalization, the data is divided into several tables
linked together with relationships.
• Database administrators are able to achieve these
relationships by using primary keys, foreign keys, and
composite keys.
• 1NF, 2NF, and 3NF are the first three types of database
normalization.
• They stand for first normal form, second normal form,
and third normal form, respectively.
• There are also 4NF (fourth normal form) and 5NF (fifth
normal form).
• There’s even 6NF (sixth normal form), but the
commonest normal form you’ll see out there is 3NF
(third normal form).
The First Normal Form – 1NF
• For a table to be in the first normal form, it must meet
the following criteria:
• a single cell must not hold more than one value
(atomicity)
• there must be a primary key for identification
• no duplicated rows or columns
• each column must have only one value for each row in
the table
The Second Normal Form – 2NF
• The 1NF only eliminates repeating groups, not
redundancy. That’s why there is 2NF.
• A table is said to be in 2NF if it meets the following
criteria:
• it’s already in 1NF
• has no partial dependency. That is, all non-key
attributes are fully dependent on a primary key.
The Third Normal Form – 3NF
• When a table is in 2NF, it eliminates repeating groups and
redundancy, but it does not eliminate transitive partial
dependency.
• This means a non-prime attribute (an attribute that is not part of
the candidate’s key) is dependent on another non-prime
attribute. This is what the third normal form (3NF) eliminates.
• So, for a table to be in 3NF, it must:
• be in 2NF
• have no transitive partial dependency.
Examples of 1NF, 2NF, and 3NF
• Database normalization is quite technical, but we will
illustrate each of the normal forms with examples.
• Imagine we're building a restaurant management
application. That application needs to store data about
the company's employees and it starts out by creating
the following table of employees:
• But even if you only know someone's employee_id,
then you can determine their name, home_state, and
state_code (because they should be the same person).
• This means name, home_state, and state_code are
dependent on employee_id (a part of primary
composite key).
• So, the table is not in 2NF. We should separate them
to a different table to make it 2NF.
• home_state is now dependent on state_code.
• So, if you know the state_code, then you can find the
home_state value.
• To take this a step further, we should separate them
again to a different table to make it 3NF.
Thankyou
