Interview Questions - DBMS

97.
List some of the properties of a relation.
Relations in a database have a unique name and no multivalued attributes exist. Each row is unique and each attribute within a relation has a unique name. The sequence of both columns and rows is irrelevant.

98.
Explain what needs to happen to convert a relation to third normal form
First you must verify that a relation is in both first normal form and second normal form. If the relation is not, you must convert into second normal form. After a relation is in second normal form, you must remove all transitive dependencies.

99.
Describe how a supertype/subtype relationship is mapped into a relation.
A separate relation is created for each supertype and subtype. The attributes common for all of the subtypes are assigned to the supertype. Each subtype has the primary key from the supertype assigned to it. A subtype discriminator is added to the supertype.

100.
Describe domain constraints.
Domain constraints include entity integrity and referential integrity. The domain is a set of values that may be assigned to an attribute. The entity integrity rule states that no part of a primary key cannot be null. Referential integrity states that each foreign key value must match a primary key value or be null.