Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Second normal form

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Abbreviation
  
2NF

Year introduced
  
1971

Developed by
  
Edgar F. Codd

Second normal form database management system


Second normal form (2NF) is a normal form used in database normalization. 2NF was originally defined by E.F. Codd in 1971.

Contents

A table that is in first normal form (1NF) must meet additional criteria if it is to qualify for second normal form. Specifically: a table is in 2NF if it is in 1NF and no non-prime attribute is dependent on any proper subset of any candidate key of the table. A non-prime attribute of a table is an attribute that is not a part of any candidate key of the table.

Put simply, a table is in 2NF if it is in 1NF and every non-prime attribute of the table is dependent on the whole of every candidate key.

Second normal form 2 nf dbms part 10


2NF and candidate keys

A functional dependency on part of any candidate key is a violation of 2NF. In addition to the primary key, the table may contain other candidate keys; it is necessary to establish that no non-prime attributes have part-key dependencies on any of these candidate keys.

Multiple candidate keys occur in the following table:

Even if the designer has specified the primary key as {Model Full Name}, the table is not in 2NF. {Manufacturer, Model} is also a candidate key, and Manufacturer Country is dependent on a proper subset of it: Manufacturer. To make the design conform to 2NF, it is necessary to have two tables:

References

Second normal form Wikipedia