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Understanding Third Normal Form (3NF)

Third Normal Form (3NF) is a database normalization standard that requires a relation to be in Second Normal Form (2NF) and free of transitive partial dependencies to reduce data duplication and ensure data integrity. A relation is in 3NF if for every non-trivial functional dependency, either the left side is a super key or the right side consists of prime attributes. Transitive dependencies occur when a functional dependency is indirectly formed by two others and can only exist in relations with three or more attributes.

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15 views2 pages

Understanding Third Normal Form (3NF)

Third Normal Form (3NF) is a database normalization standard that requires a relation to be in Second Normal Form (2NF) and free of transitive partial dependencies to reduce data duplication and ensure data integrity. A relation is in 3NF if for every non-trivial functional dependency, either the left side is a super key or the right side consists of prime attributes. Transitive dependencies occur when a functional dependency is indirectly formed by two others and can only exist in relations with three or more attributes.

Uploaded by

sushilmalik07info
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Third Normal Form (3NF)

o A relation will be in 3NF if it is in 2NF and not contain any transitive partial
dependency.

o 3NF is used to reduce the data duplication. It is also used to achieve the data
integrity.

o If there is no transitive dependency for non-prime attributes, then the


relation must be in third normal form.

A relation is in third normal form if it holds atleast one of the following conditions
for every non-trivial function dependency X → Y.

1. X is a super key.

2. Y is a prime attribute, i.e., each element of Y is part of some candidate key.

Or

A table is in a third normal form when the following conditions are met −

 It is in second normal form.

 All nonprimary fields are dependent on the candidate key.

Transitive dependency in DBMS

A functional dependency is said to be transitive if it is indirectly formed by two


functional dependencies. For e.g.

X -> Z is a transitive dependency if the following three functional dependencies


hold true:

 X->Y

 Y does not ->X

 Y->Z
Note: A transitive dependency can only occur in a relation of three of more
attributes. This dependency helps us normalizing the database in 3NF (3 rd Normal
Form).

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