ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we introduce more concepts that are essential to our presentation of the design of a database. We de›ned a database as a collection of related facts (related data). In this chapter, we explore database models and introduce the relational database model. While there are many kinds of database models, most of the databases in use today are relational; our focus in this book is to design a good relational database. In the next chapter, we introduce the concept of functional dependencies to de›ne what is a good (and a not-so-good) relational database. ”e purpose of this chapter is mostly historical; it engenders an appreciation for the simplicity and power of the relational model.
