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Unit 4 · Database Management Systems Paper 2 CS · June 2024 Re-Exam

Which of the following relations can NOT be decomposed into BCNF with a lossless join and dependency-preserving decomposition?

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Correct answer: A. R(V, W, X, Y, Z) {VW → X, WX → V, VX → W, W → Y, Y → Z}

Explanation

In A, W → Y and Y → Z violate BCNF. Removing Y and Z into separate relations leaves (V, W, X) with VW → X, WX → V and VX → W. Every BCNF lossless decomposition of A must break one of these three-attribute dependencies, so A cannot be decomposed both losslessly and dependency-preservingly. The other relations can be.

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