Explain the terms primary key, candidate key, alternate key, Database Management System

Assignment Help:

Explain the terms primary key, candidate key, alternate key and secondary key. In the given table identify every key?

STUDENT(SID,Regno, Name, City)

Primary Key: The primary key of a relational table uniquely identify every record in the table. It can either be a general attribute (or set of attributes) which is guaranteed to be unique (such as Social Security Number in a table along with no more than one record per person) or it could be provided through the DBMS (such as a globally unique identifier, or GUID, in Microsoft SQL Server).

Candidate Key: A candidate key is a combination of attributes in which can be uniquely used to recognize a database record without any extraneous data. Each table may have one or more candidate keys. One of these candidate keys is chosen as the table primary key.

Alternate Key: An alternate key (or secondary key) is any candidate key that is not selected to be the primary key (PK).

For instance, a relational database along with a table "employee" could have attributes like

"employee_id", "bank_acct_no", and so on. In this case, both "employee_id" and
"bank_acct_no" serve as unique identifiers for a given employee, and could therefore arguably be used for a primary key. Therefore, both of them are known as "candidate keys". If, for example, "bank_acct_no" was chosen as the primary key, "employee_id" would become the alternate key

Secondary Key: Same as above

In above table SID is a primary key, SID and Regno are candidate keys and SIDor Regno are alternate or secondary key.


Related Discussions:- Explain the terms primary key, candidate key, alternate key

What is gathering information and producing erd, What is Gathering informat...

What is Gathering information and Producing ERD Gathering information: This could be a written document that explains the system in question with reasonable quantity of detai

advantages of database over file system, Q.   Why would you choose a datab...

Q.   Why would you choose a database system instead of simply storing data in operating system file? Define  at a base concept in details. Sol. Advantages of Database over Fil

Define multivalued dependency and 4nf, Define multivalued dependency and 4N...

Define multivalued dependency and 4NF.  Ans:  Multivalued Dependency - Assume R be a relation schema and let α ⊆ R and β ⊆ R. The multivalued dependency  α →→β   holds o

Microeconomic, anyone have a textbook solutions case fair, 8 edition of vo...

anyone have a textbook solutions case fair, 8 edition of vol 1 ?, please give me

What is the used of specifying alias, What is the used of specifying alias?...

What is the used of specifying alias? Specifying alias: is used to rename column or attribute in a table.

Explain cascade and restrict clauses of drop schema command, Explain severa...

Explain several types of constraints that can be specified using CREATE TABLE command. Explain CASCADE and RESTRICT clauses of DROP SCHEMA command? Constraint Description PRIM

State the definition of association, State the definition of association ...

State the definition of association An association is a structural relationship which specifies that objects of one thing are connected with objects of another. In UML, asso

What are the two statements regarding transaction, What are the two stateme...

What are the two statements regarding transaction? The two statements regarding transaction of the form are:- A)     Begin transaction B)      End transaction

User error-database errors, User error :  This contains errors in the progr...

User error :  This contains errors in the program (e.g., Logical errors) with errors made by online users of database.  These types of errors can be avoided by applying some check

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd