Computer Science General Questions! Trivia Quiz

An attribute is a property or characteristic of an entity or relationship type. It represents a specific piece of information that describes the entity or relationship. In a database, attributes are used to define the structure and properties of the data. They provide additional details about the entities or relationships and help in organizing and categorizing the data effectively.

A multivalued attribute is an attribute that can have more than one value for a given entity instance. This means that a single entity can have multiple values for this attribute. For example, if we have an entity called "Student" and an attribute called "Skills", the attribute "Skills" can have multiple values such as "programming", "communication", and "leadership" for a single student.

The term "candidate" refers to a key that satisfies the requirements for being an identifier. In the context of this question, the other options such as "composite," "single-value," "simple," and "multivalued" do not specifically pertain to the requirements of being an identifier. Therefore, "candidate" is the correct answer as it aligns with the given description.

A strong entity is an entity that exists independently of other entity types. It has its own unique identifier and does not depend on any other entity for its existence. It can exist on its own and has its own attributes and relationships with other entities.

A derived attribute is one that can be calculated or derived from other related attributes. It does not need to be stored separately in the database as its value can be determined based on the values of other attributes. Therefore, the correct answer is derived.

A composite attribute is an attribute that can be broken down into smaller, more specific attributes. It represents a collection of attributes that are related to each other and can be further divided into sub-attributes. For example, a composite attribute "address" can be broken down into sub-attributes like street, city, state, and zip code.

An identifier is an attribute that uniquely identifies individual instances of an entity type. It serves as a unique identifier for each entity within the entity type.

A composite identifier is an identifier that consists of multiple attributes combined together to uniquely identify an entity. Unlike a simple identifier, which is made up of a single attribute, a composite identifier is formed by combining two or more attributes. This allows for a more precise and specific identification of the entity, as multiple attributes are taken into account. In this case, the correct answer is "composite" because it accurately describes an identifier that consists of a composite attribute.

The weak entity type depends on the identifying owner. In a database, a weak entity is an entity that cannot exist without the existence of a related strong entity. The identifying owner is the strong entity that the weak entity is dependent on for its existence. It is responsible for providing the identifier for the weak entity, which is used to uniquely identify instances of the weak entity type.

There are four classifications of attributes.