Discovery of functional and approximate functional dependencies in relational databases. Issue 1 (2003)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: King, Ronald S.; Legendre, James J.
• Is Part Of: Journal of applied mathematics & decision sciences. Volume 7:Issue 1(2003)
• Page Start: 49
• Page End: 59
• Publication Date: 2003
• Subjects: Operations research -- Periodicals; Mathematical models -- Periodicals; Statistics -- Periodicals; Quality control -- Periodicals; Mathematical models; Operations research; Quality control; Statistics; Periodicals; 519.05
• DOI: 10.1155/S117391260300004X
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1173-9126

Abstract

Abstract : This study develops the foundation for a simple, yet efficient method for uncovering functional and approximate functional dependencies in relational databases. The technique is based upon the mathematical theory of partitions defined over a relation's row identifiers. Using a levelwise algorithm the minimal non-trivial functional dependencies can be found using computations conducted on integers. Therefore, the required operations on partitions are both simple and fast. Additionally, the row identifiers provide the added advantage of nominally identifying the exceptions to approximate functional dependencies, which can be used effectively in practical data mining applications.