1

Tuesday, 7 May, 2024 12:48 AM

Entity Relationship Model (ERM)

• Basic of ERD
• Database main components:
Multivalued Attributes that have many
values and require creating:
• New attributes
• New entity
Derived Attribute whose value is
calculated from other
Entities attributes using algorithm
Definition
Thing or object in our environment that we Relationships
want to keep track of Definition
Association between entities that operate both
Types direction
Entity set Participants Entities that participate in r/ship
Collection of entities with same type
Connectivity Describes the r/ship classification
Entity type
Cardinality Expresses the min and max no of
Group of objects with same properties
entity occurrence
Entity occurrence
Uniquely identifiable object
Existence dependence & existence independence
CAPS Existence dependence Existence independence
Entity exists in database • Entity exists apart from
rectangular shape only when it is all of related entities
associated with other • Strong entity or regular
related entity occurrence entity

Relationship strength
Weak entity
• Existence dependent
• Has PK that partially or totally
derived from parent entity in the
r/ship
• Database designer determines
whether an entity is weak based on
business rules

Attributes
Definition
Characteristics of entities

Types
Required attribute
Must have value, cannot be left empty
Optional attribute
Doesn’t requires value, can be left empty
• Domain: Set of possible values
• Identifiers: 1 or more attributes that
uniquely identify each identity
Relationship participation
Optional Doesn’t requires a corresponding
entity occurrence in a particular
r/ship
Mandatory Requires a corresponding entity
occurrence in particular r/ship

Chapter 4 Page 1
2
Tuesday, 7 May, 2024 1:42 AM

Relationship degree
Unary Binary Ternary
• Maintained within a Two entities Three entities
single entity
• Recursive: exists
between occurrences
of the same entity set

Composite entities
• Represent M:N to 1:M

Entity supertypes and subtypes

Generalization Relationship between
hierarchy higher-level and lower level
subtype entity
Supertype entity Contains shared attributes
Subtype entity Contains unique attributes

Chapter 4 Page 2