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Analysis of binary relationships within ternary relationships in ER modeling

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Entity-Relationship Approach — ER '93 (ER 1993)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 823))

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Abstract

In this paper, we discuss which binary relationship cardinalities are permitted within ternary relationships, during ER modeling. We develop an implicit Binary Cardinality (IBC) rule, which states that, in any ternary relationship, the cardinality of any binary relationship embedded in the ternary, is many-to-many when there are no explicit constraints on the data instances. We then present an Explicit Binary Permission (EBP) rule, which explains and enumerates all permitted binary relationships for various cardinalities of ternary relationships. Finally we present an Implicit Binary Override (IBO) rule, which states that the implicit binary cardinalities can be constrained in a ternary relationship by explicit constraints imposed by a binary relationship. We also detail how the cardinalities within the ternary are altered as a single binary, and then multiple binary relationships are imposed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Information Studies, Drexel University, 19104, Philadelphia, PA

    Il-Yeol Song & Trevor H. Jones

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  1. Il-Yeol Song
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  2. Trevor H. Jones
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Ramez A. Elmasri Vram Kouramajian Bernhard Thalheim

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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Song, IY., Jones, T.H. (1994). Analysis of binary relationships within ternary relationships in ER modeling. In: Elmasri, R.A., Kouramajian, V., Thalheim, B. (eds) Entity-Relationship Approach — ER '93. ER 1993. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 823. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0024373

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0024373

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-58217-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-48575-9

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