A complete axiomatization for a large class of dependencies in Relational datatbases

Abstract

Relational database theory has discovered complete axiomatizations for functional and multivalued dependencies. However, a database design system that makes use of dependencies declared by the user must deal with some more general kinds of dependencies than these - at least with embedded multivalued dependencies. Yet no axiomatization for embedded multivalued dependencies is known. In this paper, we define a more general class of dependencies, called "template dependencies" and give a complete axiomatization for these. We then discuss the interaction between functional dependencies and template dependencies.