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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.
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
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.
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).
To make a 1NF relation a 2NF relation, remove the functionally dependent attributes in the partial dependencies of the first normal form relation, and place those partial dependency dependent attributes in a relation where their corresponding determinant attributes are an entire candidate key.
If a relational schema is in BCNF, then all redundancy based on functional dependency has been removed, [4] although other types of redundancy may still exist. A relational schema R is in Boyce–Codd normal form if and only if for every one of its functional dependencies X → Y, at least one of the following conditions hold: [5]
In reality, superkeys cannot be determined simply by examining one set of tuples in a relation. A superkey defines a functional dependency constraint of a relation schema which must hold for all possible instance relations of that relation schema.
There is a functional dependency from the candidate key to all the attributes in the relation. The superkeys of a relation are all the possible ways we can identify a row. The candidate keys are the minimal subsets of each superkey and as such, they are an important concept for the design of database schema.