Relational Databases

Question 1

Benefits of Relational tables

Answer 1

• no data redundancy
  (reduces risk of data-entry/saves space and processing power)
• obtain complete information by joining data
  (primary key, foreign key, descriptive attributes)

Question 2

Benefits of Flatfile

Answer 2

• easier for human visual consumption
• optimal for analyzing data
• NOT GOOD for data storage (redundancy)

Question 3

Difference between a database table and spreadsheet

Answer 3

A database:
- each columns require a name
- each column must contain same type of data
- each table must contain a unique identifier (primary key)

Question 4

Primary key vs Foreign key

Answer 4

primary key:
- uniquely identifies each row of data in a table (no duplicates)
- can be in more than one column

foreign key
- can be duplicate
- must reference primary key in another table