Introduction of ER

Model
Definition
• The Entity-Relationship Model (ER Model) is a conceptual model for
designing a databases. This model represents the logical structure of a
database, including entities, their attributes and relationships between
them.
• Entity: An objects that is stored as data such
as Student, Course or Company.

• Attribute: Properties that describes an entity such

as StudentID, CourseName, or EmployeeEmail.

• Relationship: A connection between entities such as

"a Student enrolls in a Course".
Components Of ER Diaghram

The graphical representation of this model is called an Entity-Relation

Diagram (ERD).
ER Model in Database Design Process
We typically follow the below steps for designing a database for an application.

• Gather the requirements (functional and data) by asking questions to the database users.

• Create a logical or conceptual design of the database. This is where ER model plays a
role. It is the most used graphical representation of the conceptual design of a database.

• After this, focus on Physical Database Design (like indexing) and external design (like
views)
Why Use ER Diagrams In DBMS?
• ER diagrams represent the E-R model in a database, making them easy
to convert into relations (tables).

• These diagrams serve the purpose of real-world modeling of objects

which makes them intently useful.

• Unlike technical schemas, ER diagrams require no technical

knowledge of the underlying DBMS used.

• They visually model data and its relationships, making complex

systems easier to understand.
Symbols Used in ER Model
ER Model is used to model the logical view of the system from a data perspective which consists
of these symbols:

• Rectangles: Rectangles represent entities in the ER Model.

• Ellipses: Ellipses represent attributes in the ER Model.

• Diamond: Diamonds represent relationships among Entities.

• Lines: Lines represent attributes to entities and entity sets with other relationship types.

• Double Ellipse: Double ellipses represent multi-valued Attributes, such as a student's multiple
phone numbers

• Double Rectangle: Represents weak entities, which depend on other entities for identification.
Symbols Used in ER Model
What is an Entity?

An Entity represents a real-world object, concept or thing about which

data is stored in a database. It act as a building block of a database.
Tables in relational database represent these entities.
Example of entities:
• Real-World Objects: Person, Car, Employee etc.

• Concepts: Course, Event, Reservation etc.

• Things: Product, Document, Device etc.

• The entity type defines the structure of an entity, while individual

instances of that type represent specific entities.
What is an Entity Set?

An entity refers to an individual object of an entity type, and the

collection of all entities of a particular type is called an entity set. For
example, E1 is an entity that belongs to the entity type "Student," and
the group of all students forms the entity set.

• In the ER diagram below, the entity type is represented as:

Entity Set We can represent the entity sets in an ER

Diagram but we can't represent individual

entities because an entity is like a row in

a table, and an ER diagram shows the

structure and relationships of data, not

specific data entries (like rows and

columns). An ER diagram is a visual

representation of the data model, not the

Types of Entity
There are two main types of entities:
1. Strong Entity

• A Strong Entity is a type of entity that has a key Attribute that can uniquely
identify each instance of the entity. A Strong Entity does not depend on any
other Entity in the Schema for its identification. It has a primary key that
ensures its uniqueness and is represented by a rectangle in an ER diagram.
2. Weak Entity

• A Weak Entity cannot be uniquely identified by its own attributes

alone. It depends on a strong entity to be identified. A weak entity is
associated with an identifying entity (strong entity), which helps in its
identification. A weak entity are represented by a double rectangle.
The relationship between the weak entity type and its identifying
strong entity type is called identifying relationship and it is
represented by a double diamond.
Example:
• A company may store the information of dependents (Parents,
Children, Spouse) of an Employee. But the dependents can't exist
without the employee. So dependent will be a Weak Entity Type and
Employee will be identifying entity type for dependent, which means
it is Strong Entity Type.

Strong Entity and Weak Entity

Attributes in ER Model

• Attributes are the properties that define the entity type. For example,
for a Student entity Roll_No, Name, DOB, Age, Address, and
Mobile_No are the attributes that define entity type Student. In ER
diagram, the attribute is represented by an oval.

Attribute
Types of Attributes

1. Key Attribute

The attribute which uniquely identifies each entity in the entity set is
called the key attribute. For example, Roll_No will be unique for each
student. In ER diagram, the key attribute is represented by an oval
with an underline.

Key Attribute
2. Composite Attribute

An attribute composed of many other attributes is called a composite

attribute. For example, the Address attribute of the student Entity type
consists of Street, City, State, and Country. In ER diagram, the
composite attribute is represented by an oval comprising of ovals.

Composite Attribute
3. Multivalued Attribute

An attribute consisting of more than one value for a given entity. For
example, Phone_No (can be more than one for a given student). In ER
diagram, a multivalued attribute is represented by a double oval.

Multivalued Attribute
4. Derived Attribute

An attribute that can be derived from other attributes of the entity type
is known as a derived attribute. e.g.; Age (can be derived from DOB).
In ER diagram, the derived attribute is represented by a dashed oval.

Derived Attribute
• The Complete Entity Type Student with its Attributes can
be represented as:

Entity and Attributes

Relationship Type and Relationship Set

A Relationship Type represents the association between

entity types. For example, ‘Enrolled in’ is a relationship
type that exists between entity type Student and
Course. In ER diagram, the relationship type is
represented by a diamond and connecting the entities
with lines.

Entity-Relationship Set
Example
A set of relationships of the same type is known as a
relationship set. The following relationship set depicts
S1 as enrolled in C2, S2 as enrolled in C1, and S3 as
registered in C3.

Relationship Set
Degree of a Relationship Set

The number of different entity sets participating in a

relationship set is called the degree of a relationship set
.
1. Unary Relationship: When there is only ONE entity
set participating in a relation, the relationship is called a
unary relationship. For example, one person is married
to only one person.
2. Binary Relationship:

• When there are TWO entities set participating in a

relationship, the relationship is called a binary
relationship. For example, a Student is enrolled in a
Course.

Binary Relationship
3. Ternary Relationship: When there are three entity
sets participating in a relationship, the relationship is
called a ternary relationship.
• 4. N-ary Relationship: When there are n entities set
participating in a relationship, the relationship is called
an n-ary relationship.

Ternary N-ary
Cardinality in ER Model
The maximum number of times an entity of an entity set
participates in a relationship set is known as cardinality.
Cardinality can be of different types:
1. One-to-One

When each entity in each entity set can take part only
once in the relationship, the cardinality is one-to-one.
Let us assume that a male can marry one female and a
female can marry one male. So the relationship will be
one-to-one.
• Using Sets, it can be represented as:

Set Representation of One-to-One

2. One-to-Many

• In one-to-many mapping as well where each entity can

be related to more than one entity. Let us assume that
one surgeon department can accommodate many
doctors. So the Cardinality will be 1 to M. It means one
department has many Doctors.

one to many cardinality

Using sets, one-to-many cardinality can be
represented as:

Set Representation of One-to-Many

3. Many-to-One

When entities in one entity set can take part only once in the
relationship set and entities in other entity sets can take part more
than once in the relationship set, cardinality is many to one.

• Let us assume that a student can take only one course but one
course can be taken by many students. So the cardinality will be n
to 1. It means that for one course there can be n students but for
one student, there will be only one course.
 many to one cardinality

Using Sets, it can be represented

as:

In this case, each

student is taking only 1
course but 1 course
has been taken by
Set Representation of Many-to-One
many students.
4. Many-to-Many
When entities in all entity sets can take part more than
once in the relationship cardinality is many to many. Let
us assume that a student can take more than one
course and one course can be taken by many students.
So the relationship will be many to many.

many to many cardinality

Using Sets, it can be represented as:

Many-to-Many Set Representation

In this example, student S1 is enrolled in C1 and C3 and Course C3

is enrolled by S1, S3, and S4. So it is many-to-many relationships.
Participation Constraint

Participation Constraint is applied to the entity participating in the relationship set.

1. Total Participation: Each entity in the entity set must participate in the relationship. If
each student must enroll in a course, the participation of students will be total. Total
participation is shown by a double line in the ER diagram.

• 2. Partial Participation: The entity in the entity set may or may NOT participate in the

relationship. If some courses are not enrolled by any of the students, the participation in the
course will be partial.

The diagram depicts the ‘Enrolled in’ relationship set with Student Entity set having total
participation and Course Entity set having partial participation.
 The diagram depicts the ‘Enrolled in’ relationship set with Student
Entity set having total participation and Course Entity set having
partial participation.

Total Participation and Partial Participation

Using Set, it can be represented as,

Every student in the Student

Entity set participates in a
relationship but there exists a
course C4 that is not taking Set representation of Total Participation and Partial
Participation
How to Draw an ER Diagram
1. Identify Entities: The very first step is to identify all the Entities. Represent these
entities in a Rectangle and label them accordingly.
2. Identify Relationships: The next step is to identify the relationship between them and
represent them accordingly using the Diamond shape. Ensure that relationships are not
directly connected to each other.
3. Add Attributes: Attach attributes to the entities by using ovals. Each entity can have
multiple attributes (such as name, age, etc.), which are connected to the respective entity.
4. Define Primary Keys: Assign primary keys to each entity. These are unique identifiers
that help distinguish each instance of the entity. Represent them with underlined
attributes.
5. Remove Redundancies: Review the diagram and eliminate unnecessary or repetitive
entities and relationships.
• 6. Review for Clarity: Review the diagram make sure it is clear and effectively conveys
the relationships between the entities.