1

Before to Get Started with Normalization Must to Know

Data Duplication
Definition:
Same data is stored multiple times unnecessarily.

Example:

StudentID StudentName Course Instructor

1 Ali DB Ahmed

1 Ali OS Bilal

“Ali” is repeated again and again.

Problem:

• Wastes space

• Hard to update

Data Inconsistency
Definition:
Same data has different values in different places.

Example:

StudentID StudentName Course

1 Ali DB

1 Alee OS

Same student, different spellings.

Problem:

• Confusion

• Wrong results
2

Data Integrity
Definition:
Data is correct, consistent, and reliable.

Example (Good Data):

StudentID StudentName

1 Ali

2 Sara

No duplication, no mismatch → correct data

Goal of normalization:
Maintain data integrity

Partial Dependency
Definition:
A column depends on only part of a composite key (not full key).

Example:

StudentID Course StudentName

1 DB Ali

1 OS Ali

Primary Key = (StudentID + Course)

But:

• StudentName depends only on StudentID

Problem:

• Repetition of StudentName
3

Fix:

Students Table

StudentID StudentName

1 Ali

Enrollments Table

StudentID Course

1 DB

1 OS

Transitive Dependency
Definition:
A column depends on another non-key column (indirect dependency).

Example:

StudentID Course Instructor

1 DB Ahmed

2 DB Ahmed

Here:

• Course → Instructor

• NOT StudentID → Instructor directly

So:
Instructor depends on Course (not primary key)
4

Problem:

• Redundant data

• If instructor changes → update many rows

Fix:

Courses Table

Course Instructor

DB Ahmed

Enrollments Table

StudentID Course

1 DB

2 DB

Quick Comparison (Easy Memory)

• Data Duplication → Same data repeated

• Data Inconsistency → Same data, different values

• Data Integrity → Data is correct and reliable

• Partial Dependency → Depends on part of key

• Transitive Dependency → Depends on another column

Database Normalization

Definition

Normalization is the process of dividing a large table into smaller related tables to
reduce redundancy and improve data consistency.

It helps avoid duplication and maintains accurate data

Introduction

• Problems in unorganized data:

o Data duplication

o Inconsistent updates

o Difficult data handling

• Normalization improves:

o Data integrity

o Data structure

o Efficiency

Unnormalized Table (0NF)

StudentID StudentName Courses Instructor

1 Ali DB, OS Ahmed, Bilal

2 Sara DB Ahmed

Problems:

• Multiple values in one column

• Difficult to query

• Data redundancy
6

First Normal Form (1NF)

Rules:

• No repeating groups

• Each cell contains a single value

Table in 1NF:

StudentID StudentName Course Instructor

1 Ali DB Ahmed

1 Ali OS Bilal

2 Sara DB Ahmed
7

Second Normal Form (2NF)

Rules:

• Must be in 1NF

• No partial dependency

Tables in 2NF:

Students Table

StudentID StudentName

1 Ali

2 Sara

Enrollments Table

StudentID Course Instructor

1 DB Ahmed

1 OS Bilal

2 DB Ahmed
8

Third Normal Form (3NF)

Rules:

• Must be in 2NF

• No transitive dependency

Tables in 3NF:

Students

StudentID StudentName

1 Ali

2 Sara

Courses

Course Instructor

DB Ahmed

OS Bilal

Enrollments

StudentID Course

1 DB

1 OS

2 DB
9

Practice Example

OrderID CustomerName Product Price

1 Ali Laptop 1000

1 Ali Mouse 20

Summary

• 1NF: No multi-values

• 2NF: No partial dependency

• 3NF: No indirect dependency

Exercise

Normalize the following table:

EmpID EmpName Department Manager

1 Ali IT Ahmed

2 Sara HR Bilal

3 Ali IT Ahmed