Question
In the context of schema normalization in relational DBMS, consider a set F of functional dependencies. The set of all functional dependencies implied by F is called the closure of F. To compute the closure of F, Armstrong's Axioms can be applied. Consider and as sets of attributes over a relational schema. The three rules of Armstrong's Axioms are described as follows.
Reflexivity: If , then
Augmentation: If , then for any
Transitivity: If and , then
The additional rule of Union is defined as follows.
Union: If and , then
It can be proved that the additional rule of Union is also implied by the three rules of Armstrong's Axioms. Listed below are four combinations of these three rules. Which one of these combinations is both necessary and sufficient for the proof?
Official answer and solution
- Official answer
- D
- From
- Official GATE 2026 answer key
Solution
Derive from and using Armstrong's axioms.
Given and :
- Augment with : , which is .
- Augment with : .
- Apply Transitivity to and : we obtain .
Only Augmentation and Transitivity are used (Reflexivity is not needed), and neither Augmentation alone nor Transitivity alone can derive Union.
Option (D)
Including Reflexivity when is a set identity, not an application of the Reflexivity axiom.
The answer is the one in the official GATE answer key. The solution is this site's own explanation.
Source
- Paper
- GATE 2026 Computer Science and Information Technology - Session 2 (CS2)
- Question
- 42 of 65
- Section
- Computer Science and Information Technology
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