Chapter 5

Question	Answer
A database contains tables, records and fields. Using examples from a school, describe the terms tables, records and fields	A table is a collection of data that all relates to one thing, for example, a table could contain all the information about students in one class at a school. A record is a single row within a table that contains information about a single thing or event, for example, all the information on one student. A field is an individual data item without a record, for example, Exam ID
Identify the characteristics of data in 2NF and 3NF	The data must be atomic The table must have a primary key The field names have to be unique There should be no repeating fields All of the non-key fields can be found using the entire primary key All non-key items are fully dependent on the primary key
Describe the advantages of normalisation	It removes redundant and duplicate data saving on storage space It makes the database easier to maintain as the data is not duplicated It increases integrity Improves flexibility of the database. If the needs of the organisation change then the database can be adapted without any major changes

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	Created by Katie Difford about 12 years ago