Database Systems
Lec# 9
Topics
Structural Constraints:
• One-to-One Relationships
• One-to-Many Relationships
• Many-to-Many Relationships
• Cardinality and Participation Constraints
Cardinality of Relationships
• Cardinality defines maximum number of instances of one entity are related to
instances of another entity in relationship.
• Number of instances of one entity type that can possibly be related to instances of
other entity type
• Types of cardinality
• one-to-one
• one-to-many
• many-to-many
• Symbol of cardinality
• One is represented by vertical line
• Many is represented by crow feet
One to One Relationship
• In it , for each instance in Entity class A, there is only one instance in Entity
class B and for each instance in Entity class B, there is only one instance in
Entity class A.
ud uName uAddr eId
eName
University has VC
cId cName Area pId
pName
Country has President
One to Many Relationship
• In it , for each instance in Entity class A, there are many instances in Entity
class B and for each instance in Entity class B, there is only one instance in
Entity class A.
ud uName uAddr dId
dName
University has Department
cId cName Area cityId
cityName
Country has City
Many to Many Relationship
• In it , for each instance in Entity class A, there are many instances in Entity
class B and for each instance in Entity class B, there are many instances in
Entity class A.
sId sName sPhone cCode
cName
Student Registers Course
aId aName aPhone bID
bName
Author write Book
Types of Cardinalities
One to one
DEPT
Chair
Person
One to many
DEPT EMP
Many to many
EMP PROJ
Cardinality and Participation Constraints
• Participation Constraints
• Participation or minimum cardinality defines minimum number of instances of one entity are
related to instances of another entity in relationship.
• It determines whether the relationship is optional or mandatory
• It represents whether all entity instances are involved in a particular relationship (referred to as
mandatory participation) or only some (referred to as optional participation).
• Optional participation
• is represented as a minimum value of zero 0,
• Represented by 0
• Mandatory participation
• is shown as a minimum value of 1.
• Represented by vertical line |
Examples of Relationships and their cardinalities
• Example 1
• PATIENT Has Recorded PATIENT HISTORY : Each patient has one or more patient
histories. (The initial patient visit is always recorded as an instance of PATIENT HISTORY.) Each
instance of PATIENT HISTORY “belongs to” exactly one PATIENT.
Examples of Relationships and their cardinalities
• Example 2
• EMPLOYEE Is Assigned To PROJECT : Each PROJECT has at least one EMPLOYEE
assigned to it. (Some projects have more than one.) Each EMPLOYEE may or may not be
assigned to any PROJECT or may be assigned to one or more PROJECTs.
Examples of Relationships and their cardinalities
• Example 3
• STUDENT Is Borrowed Book: A student may or may not borrow a book from library and may
borrow many books. A book must be borrowed by only one student at a time and a book may not
be borrowed by any student
Student Borrow Book
Optional Optional
