Exploration of Entity Supertypes and Subtypes,
Subtype/Supertype Relationships, Subtype Discriminators,
Disjoint and Overlapping Subtypes, Partial and Total
Completeness, Attribute Inheritance, Hierarchical Data
Structures, Database Normalization, Data Integrity
Constraints, Relational Schema Design, Entity Set Subdivision,
Non-Overlapping vs. Overlapping Entity Sets, and Advanced ER
Modeling Techniques Exam Questions Verified and Provided
with Complete A+ Graded Rationales Latest Updated 2026
Entity Supertype
Generic entity type related to one or more entity subtypes.
Entity Subtype
Contains characteristics of each entity subtype.
Subtype/Supertype Relation
Every subtype has one supertype, but a supertype can have many subtypes.
Subtype Discriminator
, An attribute of a supertype whose values determine the target subtype or subtypes.
Disjoint Subtypes
contains unique subset of the supertype entity set, also known as non-overlapping subtypes.
Overlapping Subtypes
contain non-unique subsets of the supertype entity set. Requires use of one discriminator
attribute for each subtype.
Partial Completeness
Not every supertype occurrence is a member of a subtype.
Total Completeness
Every supertype occurrence must be a member of at least one subtype.
Specialization
Lower-level, more specific entity subtypes from a higher-level entity supertype.
Generalization
Higher-level, more generic entity supertype from lower-level entity subtypes.