Properties of a Table

In this lesson, we will outline some of the characteristics of relations (tables).

Properties of relational tables

Although we defined relations as a table of values, certain characteristics make a relation different from a table. We highlight these properties with the help of the following table:

Student Relation

Stud_Id First_Name Last_Name Class Major
1 Adam Smith Junior CS
2 Jonathan Joestar Sophomore Economics
3 Lucas Klein Senior Physics
4 Brandon Jones Freshman Biology
5 Ian Damiani Junior Sociology

1. Each row is unique

This property ensures that no two rows in a relational table are identical; there is at least one column, or set of columns, whose values uniquely identify each row in the table. Such ...