INFO620: Enterprise Database Systems – Assignments
Name: _________________________________________
Date: __________________
Week 1 – Assignment #1: Chapters 1-4
Grade: 5% of Class Grade
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CH1: DATABASES AND DATABASE USERS
#1.9 - What is the difference between controlled and uncontrolled redundancy?
#1.10 - Specify all the relationships among the records of the database shown in Figure 1.2.
#1.12 – Cite some examples of integrity constraints that you think can apply to the database shown in Figure 1.2.
#1.13 - Give examples of systems in which it may make sense to use traditional file processing instead of a
database approach.
#1.14 - Consider Figure 1.2.
a. If the name of the ‘CS’ (Computer Science) Department changes to ‘CSSE’ (Computer Science and
Software Engineering) Department and the corresponding prefix for the course number also changes,
identify the columns in the database that would need to be updated.
b. Can you restructure the columns in COURSE, SECTION, and PREREQUISITE tables so that only one column
will need to be updated?
CH 2: DATABASE SYSTEM CONCEPTS AND ARCHITECTURE
#2.14 - if you were designing a Web-based system to make airline reservations and to sell airline tickets, which
DBMS Architecture would you choose from Section 2.5? Why? Why would the other architectures not be a good
choice?
#2.15 - Consider Figure 2.1. In addition to constraints relating the values of columns in one table to columns in
another table, there are also constraints that impose restrictions on values in a column or a combination of
columns within a table. One such constraint forces that a column or a group of columns must be unique across all
rows in the table. For example, in the STUDENT table, the StudentNumber column must be unique (to prevent two
different students from having the same StudentNumber). Identify the column or the group of columns in the
other tables that must be unique across all rows in the table?
CH 3: THE RELATIONAL DATA MODEL AND RELATIONAL DATABASE CONSTRAINTS
3.17 - Composite and multi-valued attributes can be nested to any number of levels.
Suppose we want to design an attribute for a STUDENT entity type to keep track of previous college
education. Such an attribute will have one entry for each college previously attended, and this entry is
composed of: college name, start and end dates, degree entries (degrees awarded at that college, if any), and
transcript entries (courses completed at that college, if any). Each degree entry is formed of degree name and
the month and year it was awarded, and each transcript entry is formed of a course name, semester, year,
and grade. Design an attribute to hold this information. Use the conventions of Figure 7.5.
3.22 - A database is being constructed to keep track of the teams and games of a sports league. A team has a
number of players, not all of whom participate in each game.
American Public University System
Kageorgis
INFO620: Enterprise Database Systems – Assignments
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It is desired to keep track of the players participating in each game for each team, the positions they played
in that game, and the result of the game. Try to design an ER schema diagram for this application, stating any
assumptions you make. Choose your favorite sport (soccer, football, baseball ...).
CHAPTER 4: THE ENHANCED ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP (EER) MODEL
4.17 - Consider the BANK ER schema of Figure 3.21, and suppose that it is necessary to keep track of different
types of ACCOUNTS (SAVINGS_ACCTS, CHECKING_ACCTS,...) and LOANS (CAR_LOANS, HOME_LOANS, ...).
Suppose that it is also desirable to keep track of each account's TRANSACTIONs (deposits, withdrawals,
checks, ...) and each loan's PAYMENTs; both of these include the amount, date, time, ... Modify the BANK
schema, using ER and EER concepts of specialization and generalization. State any assumptions you make
about the additional requirements.
American Public University System
Kageorgis