NORMALIZATION ASSESSMENT SOLUTIONS

1. Choose the correct option.

a. BCNF and 3NF are same
b. A relation in BCNF is always in 3NF
c. A relation in 3NF is always in BCNF
d. All options are true

Solution : b) A relation in BCNF is always in 3NF

1NF ⊂ 2NF ⊂ 3NF ⊂ BCNF

2. Which normal form is considered adequate for relational database design?

a. BCNF
b. 3NF
c. 2NF
d. 1NF

Solution : b) 3NF normal form is considered adequate for normal relational database design.
A relational database table is often described as “normalized” if it is in the Third Normal
Form because most of the 3NF tables are free of insertion, update, and deletion anomalies.

3. Choose the correct option.

a. BCNF is stricter than 3NF
b. A relation is in 3NF if it is in BCNF
c. A relation is in 2NF if it is in 3NF
d. All options are true

Solution : d) All options are true

4. A relational schema is said to be in at least ______ if the values in the domain of each
attribute of the relation are atomic.
a. BCNF
b. 3NF
c. 2NF
d. 1NF
Solution : d) 1NF. A relation is in first normal form if and only if the domain of each attribute
contains only atomic (indivisible) values, and the value of each attribute contains only a
single value from that domain.

5. If a database is in BCNF, then it is also in ______.

a. 1NF
b. 2NF
c. 3NF
d. All of the above

Solution : d) all of the above.

1NF ⊂ 2NF ⊂ 3NF ⊂ BCNF

6. If there are no functional dependencies between two non-prime key attributes, this
describes ______.
a. BCNF
b. 3NF
c. 2NF
d. 1NF

Solution : b) 3NF
The table is in 3NF if every non-prime attribute of R is non-transitively dependent (i.e.
directly dependent) on every superkey of R.

7. A table is in 2NF if it is in 1NF and ______.

a. no column that is not a part of the primary key is dependent on only a portion of the
foreign key
b. none of these
c. no column that is not a part of the primary key is dependent on only a portion of the
primary key
d. no column that is not a part of the primary key is dependent on only a portion of the
alternate key

Solution : c) no column that is not a part of the primary key is dependent on only a portion
of the primary key
A relation is in 2NF if it has No Partial Dependency, i.e., no non-prime attribute (attributes
which are not part of any candidate key) is dependent on any proper subset of the primary
key of the table.

8. If every non-prime key attribute is functionally dependent on the whole prime key
attribute, then the relation is in at least ______.
a. 1NF
b. 2NF
c. 3NF
d. BCNF

Solution : 2NF

Conditions for various normal forms:

1. 1 NF – A relation R is in first normal form (1NF) if and only if all underlying domains
contain atomic values only.
2. 2 NF – A relation R is in second normal form (2NF) if and only if it is in 1NF and every
non-key attribute is fully dependent on the primary key.
3. 3 NF – A relation R is in third normal form (3NF) if and only if it is in 2NF and every
non-key attribute is non-transitively dependent on the primary key.
4. BCNF – A relation R is in Boyce-Codd normal form (BCNF) if and only if every
determinant is a candidate key.

9. A functional dependency of the form X →Y is trivial if

a. Y⊃X
b. X⊆X
c. Y⊂X
d. X⊂Y and Y⊂X

Solution : c) X → Y is called trivial if Y is a subset of X

10. Third normal form is based on the concept of ______.

a. Normal Dependency
b. Closure Dependency
c. Functional Dependency
d. Transitive Dependency

Solution : d) Transitive Dependency

The third normal form (3NF) is a normal form used in database normalization Codd's
definition states that a table is in 3NF if and only if both of the following conditions hold:
 The relation R (table) is in seconfd normal form(2NF)
 Every non-prime attribute of R is non-transitively dependent on every key of R.
A non-prime attribute of R is an attribute that does not belong to any candidate key of R.
A transitive dependency is a functional dependency in which
X → Z(X determines Z) indirectly, by virtue of X → Y and Y → Z (where it is not the case that
Y → X).