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From: "Marshall  Spight" <marshall.spight@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.databases.theory
Subject: Re: Key attributes with list values was Re: What are the differences ...KEY
Date: 27 Feb 2006 09:03:24 -0800
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Xref: dp-news.maxwell.syr.edu comp.databases.theory:36992

Anith Sen wrote:
>
> With those propositions, how do you make sure that the DBMS is aware of the
> fact that Jane Harper and Jane Smith are the same entity?

With those propositions, you can't, of course. Declaring name as the
key is declaring that two people with the same name *are* the same
person. Or perhaps more accurately, a table with person-names
as the key is a table of names, not a table of people. Since names
can't have a marital status, trying to map the table's attributes
back to the real world breaks down.


Marshall