An efficient algorithm for 3NF determination

Abstract

In this paper we present an algorithm that determines whether or not a relation R is in Third Normal Form (3NF). The algorithm works by classifying the attributes of R into so-called dependency sets that are based on the set of functional dependencies defined on R. A new type of dependency graph is introduced to visualize the dependencies. The algorithm will run faster than algorithms designed to find all of the candidate keys of R, especially if there exists more than one dependency set.