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In relational database theory, a functional dependency is the following constraint between two attribute sets in a relation: Given a relation R and attribute sets X,Y R, X is said to functionally determine Y (written X → Y) if each X value is associated with precisely one Y value.
A trivial multivalued dependency X Y is one where either Y is a subset of X, or X and Y together form the whole set of attributes of the relation. A functional dependency is a special case of multivalued dependency. In a functional dependency X → Y, every x determines exactly one y, never more than one.
Every non-trivial functional dependency begins with a superkey (a stricter form of 3NF) — Every non-trivial multivalued dependency begins with a superkey — Every join dependency has a superkey component [8] — Every join dependency has only superkey components — Every constraint is a consequence of domain constraints and key constraints
Given a set of functional dependencies , an Armstrong relation is a relation which satisfies all the functional dependencies in the closure + and only those dependencies. . Unfortunately, the minimum-size Armstrong relation for a given set of dependencies can have a size which is an exponential function of the number of attributes in the dependencies conside
A canonical cover for F (a set of functional dependencies on a relation scheme) is a set of dependencies such that F logically implies all dependencies in , and logically implies all dependencies in F. The set has two important properties:
Dependency theory is a subfield of database theory which studies implication and optimization problems related to logical constraints, commonly called dependencies, on databases. The best known class of such dependencies are functional dependencies , which form the foundation of keys on database relations .
A database relation (e.g. a database table) is said to meet third normal form standards if all the attributes (e.g. database columns) are functionally dependent on solely a key, except the case of functional dependency whose right hand side is a prime attribute (an attribute which is strictly included into some key).
The chase is a simple fixed-point algorithm testing and enforcing implication of data dependencies in database systems. It plays important roles in database theory as well as in practice. It is used, directly or indirectly, on an everyday basis by people who design databases, and it is used in commercial systems to reason about the consistency ...