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DBMS Assignment 3
Ans1:
Step 1: Find Candidate Key(s)
Let’s compute closures of attributes:

1. A⁺ = {A, B, C, D} (since A → B, AB → C, C → D)
Therefore, A is a candidate key.

Hence, the candidate key is:

Candidate Key = {A}

Step 2: Identify Prime and Non-Prime Attributes

Prime attribute: A (since it is part of candidate key)

Non-prime attributes: B, C, D

Step 3: Check Normal Forms

1NF (First Normal Form):

All attribute values are atomic.
✅ Therefore, R is in 1NF.

DBMS Assignment 3 1
 2NF (Second Normal Form):
Since the candidate key is a single attribute (A), there
are no partial dependencies.
✅ Therefore, R is in 2NF.
3NF (Third Normal Form):
For 3NF, for every functional dependency X → Y, one of the
following must hold:

1. X is a superkey, or

2. Y is a prime attribute.

Let’s check the functional dependencies:

AB → C: AB is a superkey (since A is a candidate key), so

this satisfies 3NF.

A → B: A is a candidate key, so this satisfies 3NF.

C → D: C is not a superkey, and D is a non-prime attribute.

❌ Hence, this violates 3NF.
Therefore, R is not in 3NF.

BCNF (Boyce-Codd Normal Form):

For BCNF, for every functional dependency X → Y, X must be a
superkey.

C → D violates BCNF as C is not a superkey.

❌ Hence, R is not in BCNF.
Final Answer:
The highest normal form for the given relation R is:

2NF

Ans 2:
Given:

DBMS Assignment 3 2
 Relation: Book(BookID, AuthorID, AuthorName, BookTitle, Price)
Candidate Key: (BookID, AuthorID)

Step 1: Identify Partial Dependencies

A partial dependency exists when a non-prime attribute is
dependent on a part of the composite key. Let's check the
dependencies:

BookID → BookTitle, Price (BookTitle and Price depend only

on BookID)

AuthorID → AuthorName (AuthorName depends only on AuthorID)

Hence, partial dependencies exist in the relation.

Step 2: Decompose into 2NF

To remove partial dependencies and achieve 2NF, we decompose
the relation into the following:

Decomposed Relations:
1️⃣ R1(BookID, BookTitle, Price)
(Attributes dependent on BookID)

2️⃣ R2(AuthorID, AuthorName)

(Attributes dependent on AuthorID)

3️⃣ R3(BookID, AuthorID)

(To maintain the relationship between books and authors)

Final Relations in 2NF:

R1(BookID, BookTitle, Price)

R2(AuthorID, AuthorName)

R3(BookID, AuthorID)

Ans 3:
1️⃣ Primary Key Identification
DBMS Assignment 3 3
 The table has the following functional dependencies:

EmployeeID → EmployeeName

ProjectID → ProjectName

EmployeeID, ProjectID → HoursWorked

From the above dependencies, the minimal set of attributes

that determines all other attributes is (EmployeeID,
ProjectID).

Hence, the Primary Key is:

👉 (EmployeeID, ProjectID)
2️⃣ Normalization Check and Decomposition
✅ 1NF Check:
The table is in 1NF because it has atomic attributes and no
repeating groups.

✅ 2NF Check:
The table is not in 2NF because there are partial
dependencies:

EmployeeID → EmployeeName

ProjectID → ProjectName
These attributes are dependent on only part of the
composite key.

✅ 3NF Check:
Since the table is not in 2NF, it is also not in 3NF.

3️⃣ Normalization to 3NF

To normalize to 3NF, decompose the table into:

1️⃣ Employee(EmployeeID, EmployeeName)

2️⃣ Project(ProjectID, ProjectName)
3️⃣ EmployeeProject(EmployeeID, ProjectID, HoursWorked)
This eliminates partial dependencies and ensures the table is
in 3NF.

DBMS Assignment 3 4
 Final Tables in 3NF:

Employee Project EmployeeProject

EmployeeID, ProjectID, EmployeeID, ProjectID,

EmployeeName ProjectName HoursWorked

Ans 4:
To find candidate keys, we need to find minimal sets of
attributes whose closure includes all attributes (ABCDEFGH).

1. Start with the closure of each attribute and combinations:

{F}+ = F → EG → A → BC → CFH → ABCEFGH (only missing D)

So F alone is not sufficient, need to add D

2. Check {DF}+:

DF → F → EG → A → BC → CFH → ABCDEFGH (all attributes)

DF is a candidate key

3. Check for other minimal combinations:

{EF}+ = EF → A → BC → CFH → G → ABCEFGH (missing D)

{EFD}+ would work but is not minimal since DF already

works

{BF}+ = BF → CFH → G → EG → A → BC → ABCEFGH (missing D)

{BDF}+ would work but again not minimal

1. Other potential candidate keys:

{AF}+ = AF → BC → CFH → G → EG → ABCEFGH (missing D)

{ADF}+ would work but not minimal

{HF}+ = HF → (no direct FDs) → need more attributes

After checking various combinations, the only minimal

candidate key appears to be {DF}.
Final Answer: The relation R has 1 candidate key, which is
DF.

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 Ans 5:
1. Find the closure of {AB}:

AB → C → D → E → A

So {AB}+ = ABCDE (all attributes)

AB is a candidate key

2. Check if any subset of AB is a candidate key:

{A}+ = A (no FD with just A on left)

{B}+ = B

Neither A nor B alone is a candidate key

3. Check other potential candidate keys:

{EB}+:

EB → A (from E→A) → AB → C → D → E

{EB}+ = ABCDE

EB is another candidate key

4. Check for other combinations:

{CB}+:

CB → D (from C→D) → E → A

{CB}+ = ABCDE

CB is another candidate key

{DB}+:

DB → E → A → (but no way to get C without AB→C)

{DB}+ = ABDE (missing C)

Not a candidate key

Final Answer: The candidate keys are AB, EB, and CB.

Part 2: Check if R is in BCNF and decompose if

not

DBMS Assignment 3 6
 Solution:
A relation is in BCNF if for every non-trivial FD X → Y, X
is a superkey.

Check each FD:

1. AB → C: AB is a candidate key (superkey) - OK

2. C → D: C is not a superkey (C+ = CDEA ≠ ABCDE) -

Violation

3. D → E: D is not a superkey (D+ = DEA ≠ ABCDE) -

Violation

4. E → A: E is not a superkey (E+ = EA ≠ ABCDE) - Violation

Since multiple FDs violate BCNF, we need to decompose.

Decomposition Steps:

1. Pick the first violating FD: C → D

Create R1 = {C,D} with FD C → D

Create R2 = {A,B,C,E} with remaining FDs (but need

to project them)

Original FDs in R2: AB → C, E → A

C → D is handled in R1

D → E is not applicable (D not in R2)

E → A remains

2. Check R2 for BCNF:

AB → C: AB is a superkey in R2 (AB+ = ABCE)

E → A: E is not a superkey in R2 (E+ = EA)

Need to decompose further using E → A

3. Decompose R2:

R21 = {E,A} with FD E → A

R22 = {B,C,E} with FD (projecting AB → C gives no

non-trivial FDs)

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 Actually, in R22 we have BE → C (since AB → C in
original and A is determined by E)

Need to check if BE is a superkey in R22: BE+ =

BEC (all attributes in R22)

So BE → C is OK for BCNF

Final decomposition:

R1(C,D) with C → D

R21(E,A) with E → A

R22(B,C,E) with BE → C

Final Answer:

1. R is not in BCNF because of the FDs C → D, D → E, and E → A

where the left sides are not superkeys.

2. Decomposition into BCNF:

R1(C, D) with FD: C → D

R2(E, A) with FD: E → A

R3(B, C, E) with FD: BE → C

DBMS Assignment 3 8