Ch-8 Intruduction to Database management System
1. What is a database?
Ans. Database is a collection of data, which is stored in a systematic manner,
i.e., in the form of tables so that one can retrieve and manipulate the
information quickly and efficiently from a large set of data.
2. Distinguish between DBMS and RDBMS
Ans. DBMS: The Database Management System (DBMS) is a computerised
record keeping system or a software that enables you to create, store, modify,
and extract information from a database. It does not support relationship
between tables.
RDBMS: Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a type of the
DBMS software that uses the Relational Database (RDB) model for its database.
A relational model enables the users to store data in several tables and
supports relationships between tables using keys.
3.What are tuples and attributes?
Ans. Tuples: All the rows (consists of a set of related information that belongs
to a particular object) in a table/database are called tuples or records.
Attributes: An attribute is a piece of information about an object. All the
columns in a table/database are called attributes.
4.Describe the primary key.
Ans. A primary key is a set of one of more fields that uniquely identifies each
record in a table. It does not contain any duplicate data. A table can have only
one primary key. The value in the primary key field is different for every tuple
and thus helps in uniquely identifying the records.
5.What is a composite key? Give an example.
Ans. A composite key or composite primary key refers to a combination of two
or more attributes (fields) that uniquely identify the records in a table. It may
be a candidate key or primary key. For example, In the Customer table of
Dominos database, the CustOrder_ID field alone cannot become a primary key
as many products can be purchased by the same customer, thus the same
customer can have multiple entries. Similarly, column Product_ID alone cannot
become a primary key as the same product can be purchased by different
customers. Hence, composite key is CustOrder_ID and Product_ID, as records
can be retrieved uniquely by using both the fields.
6. Give one difference between network and hierarchical data models
Ans. Network Data Model: In this model, multiple records are associated with
the same master file. It is also considered an inverted tree with the master
positioned at the base and branches holding information linked to the master.
Hierarchical Data Model: In this model, data is structured in a manner
resembling a tree, with information organised into records. A record comprises
fields and their respective data values. These records are interconnected at
different levels, creating a hierarchical structure.
7. Describe the different database objects.
Ans. Different database objects are:
Table: The data is first stored in tables in row and column format. A column
represents a field or an attribute while a row represents a record.
Forms: A form is a feature of a database using which we can enter data in a
table in an easy and user friendly manner.
Queries: A query is used to retrieve the desired information from the database.
In simple terms, it is a question asked from the database.
Reports: Reports are used to display the selected data in a printable format.
8. Give any four advantages of a RDBMS.
Ans. Four advantages of RDBMS are:
1. RDBMS provides the features to create, update, and administer a
relational database.
2. RDBMS makes easy to search and retrieve the data within the database
and ensures that data integrity is maintained.
3. RDBMS makes it possible to run queries across multiple tables at once.
4. RDBMS has the capability to retrieve data from different related tables
conveniently, to produce the answers to questions that cannot be
answered from individual tables alone.
