Re: A Normalization Question

From: Larry Coon <lcnospam_at_assist.org>
Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2004 14:39:59 -0700
Message-ID: <40EB1C2F.7B5A_at_assist.org>

Neo wrote:

> "Having several copies" (ie 'brown', 'brown', 'brown') is redundant.

Not necessarily:

create table house_color (

  customer_id numeric(5) not null,
  exterior_color varchar(10) not null,
  interior_color varchar(10) not null,

  trim_color varchar(10) not null,
  primary key (customer_id)
)

Here a tuple that contained ('brown', 'brown', 'brown') would be representing three independent, distinct facts, therefore it would not be redundant. Jan was correct when he said, "not things, facts." There is one -thing- three times, but that simply doesn't matter.

Larry Coon
University of California Received on Tue Jul 06 2004 - 23:39:59 CEST