Frequently Asked Questions on Partial Dependency
What is the difference between partial and transitive dependency?
A partial dependence is caused by one non-prime attribute whose functionality comes from the functions of only one part of the composite key of the prime attribute.In turn, a transitive dependency is derived from a non-prime attribute that is dependent on the expression of a function of another non-prime attribute.
How can partial dependency affect database design?
Data is prone to being partially dependent on each other; therefore, it can result in different circumstances of data duplication and anomalies that are a big challenge to database integrity and consistency. Normalization, as one of the ways to remove anomalies, is vitally important. The key to a properly designed database will be to remove partial dependencies through normalization.
Can you provide an example of partial dependency in real-world scenarios?
In the university databases, a table “Student_Course” is to be created with the attributes (Student_ID, Course_ID, Instructor_Name). Here, the course instructor has its functional dependency placed only with course_id and not student_id; this depicts partial dependency.
Is partial dependency always undesirable?
The dependency of a single component is most often undesirable as exposure to inconsistencies and data anomalies increases. But, on the other hand, there will be some circumstances where it is justifiable, but only when some specific conditions or limitations are involved.
How can we eliminate partial dependency?
The normalization process can deal with partial dependency either with the help of a decomposition or description of the Boyce-Codd Normal Form (BCNF). This can be done through summation and restructuring, which are based on functional dependency, in order to get the partial dependency resolved.
Partial Dependency in DBMS
Database Management Systems (DBMS) design and optimize their databases for working, expecting partial dependency. It is something like a functional or strong dependency that makes it possible to show a constrained relationship between two or more attributes in a table. In this essay, we will discuss partial reliances, how to overcome them, and how to eliminate them while creating database models.