CPS 510 STUDY QUESTIONS 2026 COMPLETE
ANSWERS OFFERED
◍ Q2: What are the six fundamental operations in relational algebra?
Answer: A: Selection, Projection, Cartesian Product, Union,
Difference, and Renaming.
◍ Q4: What is the primary difference between BCNF and 3NF?
Answer: A: BCNF insists that every non-trivial, irreducible functional
dependency has a candidate key as its determinant, while 3NF allows
dependencies where the dependent attribute is part of the primary key.
◍ Q5: What does the acronym ACID stand for in transactions?
Answer: A: Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability.
◍ Q6: What is the purpose of normalization in database design?
Answer: A: To eliminate redundancy and ensure data integrity by
organizing data into normal forms like 1NF, 2NF, 3NF, and BCNF
◍ Q7: Describe the SELECT statement in SQL. Answer: A: The
SELECT statement is used to query data from a database and is
typically written as SELECT columns FROM table WHERE
condition.
◍ Q8: What is a foreign key in SQL? Answer: A: A foreign key is an
attribute or a set of attributes in one table that refers to the primary
key in another table, ensuring referential integrity.
,◍ Q9: What is the difference between static and dynamic hashing?
Answer: A: Static hashing has a fixed address space, while dynamic
hashing allows the hash table to grow or shrink dynamically as data is
added or removed.
◍ Q10: In the context of functional dependencies, what is meant by
the term "closure"? Answer: A: Closure is the set of all attributes that
can be functionally determined from a given set of attributes under a
set of functional dependencies.
◍ Q11: Which of the following commands will add a column email to
an existing table users?
a) ALTER TABLE users ADD email VARCHAR(100);
b) MODIFY TABLE users ADD email VARCHAR(100);
c) ADD COLUMN email VARCHAR(100) TO users;
d) ALTER users ADD email VARCHAR(100); Answer: Correct
Answer: a
◍ Q13: Given a table employees with columns name and department,
what does the following query do?
SELECT DISTINCT department FROM employees;
a) Retrieves the count of employees in each department.
b) Retrieves all departments, including duplicates.
c) Retrieves unique department names without duplicates.
, d) Retrieves all employee names in each department. Answer: Correct
Answer: c
◍ Q12: If the functional dependency A -> B holds, which of the
following is true?
a) B can determine A.
b) A uniquely determines B.
c) A and B are independent.
d) A depends on B. Answer: Correct Answer: b
◍ Q14: What is the primary purpose of the JOIN clause in SQL?
a) To create new tables dynamically.
b) To delete rows from multiple tables.
c) To filter data from a single table.
d) To combine data from two or more tables based on a related
column. Answer: Correct Answer: d
◍ Q15: Which of the following ensures that a database transaction is
durable?
a) The transaction updates are saved to persistent storage before
completion.
b) The transaction involves no updates.
c) The transaction is atomic.
d) The transaction is isolated from other transactions. Answer: Correct
Answer: a
ANSWERS OFFERED
◍ Q2: What are the six fundamental operations in relational algebra?
Answer: A: Selection, Projection, Cartesian Product, Union,
Difference, and Renaming.
◍ Q4: What is the primary difference between BCNF and 3NF?
Answer: A: BCNF insists that every non-trivial, irreducible functional
dependency has a candidate key as its determinant, while 3NF allows
dependencies where the dependent attribute is part of the primary key.
◍ Q5: What does the acronym ACID stand for in transactions?
Answer: A: Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability.
◍ Q6: What is the purpose of normalization in database design?
Answer: A: To eliminate redundancy and ensure data integrity by
organizing data into normal forms like 1NF, 2NF, 3NF, and BCNF
◍ Q7: Describe the SELECT statement in SQL. Answer: A: The
SELECT statement is used to query data from a database and is
typically written as SELECT columns FROM table WHERE
condition.
◍ Q8: What is a foreign key in SQL? Answer: A: A foreign key is an
attribute or a set of attributes in one table that refers to the primary
key in another table, ensuring referential integrity.
,◍ Q9: What is the difference between static and dynamic hashing?
Answer: A: Static hashing has a fixed address space, while dynamic
hashing allows the hash table to grow or shrink dynamically as data is
added or removed.
◍ Q10: In the context of functional dependencies, what is meant by
the term "closure"? Answer: A: Closure is the set of all attributes that
can be functionally determined from a given set of attributes under a
set of functional dependencies.
◍ Q11: Which of the following commands will add a column email to
an existing table users?
a) ALTER TABLE users ADD email VARCHAR(100);
b) MODIFY TABLE users ADD email VARCHAR(100);
c) ADD COLUMN email VARCHAR(100) TO users;
d) ALTER users ADD email VARCHAR(100); Answer: Correct
Answer: a
◍ Q13: Given a table employees with columns name and department,
what does the following query do?
SELECT DISTINCT department FROM employees;
a) Retrieves the count of employees in each department.
b) Retrieves all departments, including duplicates.
c) Retrieves unique department names without duplicates.
, d) Retrieves all employee names in each department. Answer: Correct
Answer: c
◍ Q12: If the functional dependency A -> B holds, which of the
following is true?
a) B can determine A.
b) A uniquely determines B.
c) A and B are independent.
d) A depends on B. Answer: Correct Answer: b
◍ Q14: What is the primary purpose of the JOIN clause in SQL?
a) To create new tables dynamically.
b) To delete rows from multiple tables.
c) To filter data from a single table.
d) To combine data from two or more tables based on a related
column. Answer: Correct Answer: d
◍ Q15: Which of the following ensures that a database transaction is
durable?
a) The transaction updates are saved to persistent storage before
completion.
b) The transaction involves no updates.
c) The transaction is atomic.
d) The transaction is isolated from other transactions. Answer: Correct
Answer: a
