Posted by Martijn Tonies on 04/13/07 07:23

> > > > Here is a theoretical, and definition question for you.
> >
> > > > In databases, we have:
> >
> > > > Relation
> > > > a table with columns and rows
> >
> > > > Attribute
> > > > a named column/field of a relation
> >
> > > > Domain
> > > > a set of allowable values for one or more attributes
> >
> > > > Tuple
> > > > a row of a relation
> >
> > > > Degree
> > > > the number of attributes a relation contains
> > > > Number of fields in a table
> >
> > > > Cardinality
> > > > the number of tuples/rows a relation contains
> >
> > > > But!
> >
> > > > What is the definition for the number of unique values in a field?
> >
> > > > So, if you have 100 rows in a table, and the field is
> > > > the gender field, with only values of: M, F.
> > > > The result is 2 unique values.
> >
> > > > What do we call this concept?
> > > > "the number of unique values in a column?"
> >
> > > > Is there one?
> >
> > > > Thanks a lot!
> >
> > > (Column) Cardinality = number of distinct column/attribute values.
> > > Table Cardinality = number of rows in a table.
> >
> > Shouldn't that be *distinct* (non-duplicate) rows in the table?
>
> I believe that one of the cardinal rules (pun intended) of RDBMS
> theory is that a table can never have duplicate rows.

True. There's no point in having duplicate rows, cause you can't tell
which one you're handling :-)



--
Martijn Tonies
Database Workbench - development tool for MySQL, and more!
Upscene Productions
http://www.upscene.com
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http://blog.upscene.com/martijn/
Database development questions? Check the forum!
http://www.databasedevelopmentforum.com

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