Academic Year: 2019 / 20

Duration: 2 h 00 m

Level: L4

Exam Name: DATA AND DATABASES - SIT

Unit refs: COMP4030

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

Answer any TWO questions out of FOUR.

Each question is worth 25 marks.

Total available marks on this paper = 50.

Your mark will be converted into a percentage to give a mark out of 100.

Non-programmable calculator allowed

1.
a) Normalise the table below into the 3rd Normal Form. Explain your
approach.
[20 marks]
PhD
Acad. Acad. Student Supervisor Faculty
ID Acad. Name EXT PhD ID Name PhD Title Role Faculty Campus
DATA AND DATABASES - SIT Page 2 of 6

Fred James Something Wrong

1 Fedderson 65511 3 Jamerson With Data 1st FST Talbot
Fanka
4 Tonya Toloya 65514 4 Fanta OO Here We Go 1st HSS Lansdowne
Gudrun Functions Don't
5 Goppletop 65515 6 Nikky Nofin Function 2nd FMC Talbot
Charly Hank
8 Chaplin 65518 8 Hanson The Big Data Con 2nd HSS Lansdowne
Peter Web Technology
9 Clare Grube 65519 1 Parker Paradox 1st FMC Talbot
Fred
1 Fedderson 65511 2 Tim Timson Testing Tests 1st FST Talbot
Functions Don't
4 Tonya Toloya 65514 6 Nikky Nofin Function 1st HSS Lansdowne
Gudrun Hank
5 Goppletop 65515 8 Hanson The Big Data Con 1st FMC Talbot
Charly Peter Web Technology
8 Chaplin 65518 1 Parker Paradox 2nd HSS Lansdowne
` ``
b) Describe three anomalies in relation to un-normalised data. Please use the
data above to illustrate your points.
Update, Delete, Insert [5 marks]

2.
a) How would you define security in databases and which main reasons
would you give for enforcing security? [9 marks]
Security in databases needs 3 things, Confidentiality, Integrity and
Availability. Confidentiality means that the data is not made available or
disclosed to those without authorisation. Integrity is the safeguarding and
accuracy of protection form unathorised modification. Availability is how
accessible the database is when accessed by a authroised entity.
b) What types of questions should a database administrator consider in
relation to database security?
They should consider the accessibility as well as integrity of data. A
database administrator wants to make sure the data being accessed is
both secure and easily attained by authorised personnel.
[5 marks]
DATA AND DATABASES - SIT Page 3 of 6

c) What are users and schemas, and how are they related to each other?
Users are those that access the data, schemas is how the data is
organised.
[3 marks]
d) Why would database administrators change the appearance of a
database, and what methods could they use?
To make it easier to follow for users. Database administrators can use
normalisation to make the database less cluttered with repeated
information and values. Additionally, database administrators could use
SELECT statements to separate information, that might be irrelevant for a
specific user, from the information that the user wants to access.
[5 marks]

e) What is Data Integrity?

Data integrity is the preservation of data that could be accessed by a
unauthorised third party.
[2 marks]

3.
a) Explain and define the relational algebra operations Projection and
Restriction. Please make use of mathematical notations, and show the
operation on the table below.
[12 marks]

CURRENT_STUDENT
Student_ID S_Name Course Overall_Grade
S1 Liebchen BIT 65
S2 Wilson COMP 85
S3 Mylonas FCS 70
S4 Rostami DSA 73
DATA AND DATABASES - SIT Page 4 of 6

b) Explain and define the relational algebra operation Union. Please make
use of mathematical notations, and show the operation on the following
two tables.
[8 marks]

CURRENT_STUDENT
Student_ID S_Name Course Overall_Grade
S1 Liebchen BIT 65
S2 Wilson COMP 85
S3 Mylonas FCS 70
S4 Rostami DSA 73

PAST_STUDENT
Student_ID S_Name Course Overall_Grade
S50 Hall COMP 45
S45 Knaggs BIT 50
S66 Bray FCS 65
S70 Cox SEM 85

c) Using the two previous two tables, combine Union and Projection. Please
make use of mathematical notations and show the operation on tables.
[5 marks]
4.
a) You get the car sales data from the two car dealers, Locar and CoAuto.
Boxplots of both data sets are given in the figure below.
DATA AND DATABASES - SIT Page 5 of 6

i. Explain what the median is. Give an example of median using 5

values. From the plots above, which car dealer has higher median
sales? [3 marks]

ii. Explain what the mean is. Give an example of mean using 5 values.
What can be said about the means of sales from box plots?
[3 marks]

iii. What does the size of the box in the boxplot signify? Based on this,
which car dealer is likely to have a broader range of vehicles and why?

[3 marks]

b) In order to understand the general second-hand car sales trends in the UK

market, you commission two surveys.
i. What is the population and what is a sample in this case?
[3 marks]

Survey A is based on 100 cars and reports the average sales price
of 15,000 with the variance of 5000. Survey B is based on 10000
cars and reports the average sales price of 12,000 with the variance
of 4000. Which survey is likely to reflect the population more
accurately? What is the mathematical reasoning behind?
DATA AND DATABASES - SIT Page 6 of 6

[6 marks]

ii. A 95% confidence interval from survey A is 15,000±980. What does

this mean? What would you do to get a more exact estimate?
[6 marks]

Name of Unit leader: Gernot Liebchen

Ext.No: 66731
Name of PSO: Jack Amey
Ext.No: 61510