3️⃣

ER Model
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📌 LEC-3: Entity-Relationship Model

📚 1. Data Model
A collection of conceptual tools for describing:

Data 📊
Data relationships 🔗
Data semantics 🧠
Consistency constraints ✅
🏗 2. ER Model (Entity-Relationship Model)
🔹 A high-level data model that represents real-world objects as entities and their
relationships.
🔹 Uses
ER diagrams 📜 as a blueprint for databases.

🏢 Entities
An entity is an object in the real world that is distinguishable from others.

Example: Each student in a college is an entity.

Entities are uniquely identified by a primary attribute (Primary Key 🔑).

ER Model 1
 🔥 Types of Entities
🏆: Can be uniquely identified.
1. Strong Entity

2. Weak Entity 🏳: Cannot be uniquely identified & depends on a strong entity.

Example: Loan (Strong) → Payment (Weak), as installments are sequential

numbers.

Weak entities rely on strong entities for existence.

📂 Entity Set
A set of entities sharing the same properties/attributes.

Examples:

Students 🎓
Customers of a bank 🏦
🎭 3. Attributes
Entities are represented by attributes.

Each entity has a value for each attribute.

🔢 Types of Attributes
1. Simple ⚡: Cannot be divided further (e.g., Roll Number, Account Number).
2. Composite 🏗: Can be divided into subparts (e.g., Name → First, Middle,
Last).

3. Single-valued 🔑: Holds only one value (e.g., Student ID, Loan Number).

4. Multi-valued 📜: Holds multiple values (e.g., Phone numbers, Nominees in

insurance policies).

5. Derived 🏛: Values derived from other attributes (e.g., Age from Date of Birth).

6. NULL Value 🚫:

Indicates missing or unknown data (e.g., Middle name may not exist).

🔗
Can indicate "Not Known" (e.g., Salary not updated yet).

ER Model 2
 🔗 4. Relationships
Associations between entities.

Examples:

Person has Vehicle 🚗

Parent has Child 👶
Customer borrows Loan 💰
🏆 Types of Relationships
💪: Between two independent entities.
1. Strong Relationship

2. Weak Relationship 💀: Between a weak entity and its owner/strong entity.

Example: Loan Payment.

🔢 Degree of Relationships
1. Unary (1 entity) 🔄: Employee manages Employee.
2. Binary (2 entities) 🔗: Student takes Course.

3. Ternary (3 entities) 🔺: Employee works on Job at Branch.

4. Binary relationships are the most common.

📏 5. Relationship Constraints
🎯 Mapping Cardinality / Cardinality Ratio
Defines how many entities can be associated with another entity:

Cardinality Definition Example

1:1🔢 One entity in A is related to at most one

entity in B
Citizen has Aadhar Card🆔
1:M 🔁 Citizen owns Vehicles 🚗🚙
One entity in A is related to multiple entities
in B

M:1 🔄
Many entities in A relate to at most one Course taught by Professor
entity in B 👨‍🏫

ER Model 3
 M:N 🔗 Many entities in A relate to many entities in
B
Student attends Courses
🎓📚
🔍 Participation Constraints
Minimum cardinality constraint.

Defines whether all entities participate in a relationship or not.

Types of Participation Constraints

1. Partial Participation⏳: Not all entities participate.
2. Total Participation ✅: Each entity must be involved in at least one
relationship.

Example: Customer borrows Loan.

Loan has Total Participation as it cannot exist without a Customer.

Customer has Partial Participation.

ER Notation

ER Model 4