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

Write short notes on transaction state, Write short notes on transaction st...

Write short notes on transaction state? A transaction may not always complete its implementation successfully such a transaction is termed aborted A transaction must be in o

What are composite attributes, What are composite attributes? Composite...

What are composite attributes? Composite attributes can be separated in to sub parts.

What is meant by data-transfer rate, What is meant by data-transfer rate? ...

What is meant by data-transfer rate? The data-transfer rate is the rate at which data can be retrieved from or kept to the disk.

Types of locks, Types of Locks There are two necessary types of locks: ...

Types of Locks There are two necessary types of locks: Binary lock : This locking mechanism has two states for to a data item: locked or unlocked Multiple-mode loc

Define deadlock prevention, Define deadlock prevention. Deadlock preven...

Define deadlock prevention. Deadlock prevention is a set of methods for ensuring that at least one of the four essential conditions like mutual exclusion, hold and wait, no pre

Writing a pl/sql program, Problem 1. Create a PL/SQL program to insert ...

Problem 1. Create a PL/SQL program to insert data into student table and display the details of the student having Reg.No 1010 Writing a PL/SQL program to Insert data

Failure controlling methods, Failure Controlling Methods: Failures can be h...

Failure Controlling Methods: Failures can be handled using different recovery methods that are talk about later in the unit. But the first question is doing we really require recov

What is a merge sort, QUESTION (a) Using an appropriate example, explai...

QUESTION (a) Using an appropriate example, explain what is a recursive function? (b) Explain in detail the C++ function given below. void search2(int list[],int n,int ele

Define the terms - physical schema and logical schema, Define the terms  1)...

Define the terms  1) physical schema 2) logical schema.  Physical schema:  The physical schema explains the database design at the physical level, which  is  the  lowest  lev

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