CHAPTER 1: DATABASE SYSTEMS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Answers to Review Questions…….................................…………………………………………….1
Answers to Problems ...............................................................................................................9
ANSWERS TO REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Define each of the following terms:
Answer:
a. data
Raw facts from which the required information is derived. Data have little meaning unless
they are grouped in a logical manner.
b. field
A character or a group of characters (numeric or alphanumeric) that describes a specific
characteristic. A field may define a telephone number, a date, or other specific characteristics
that the end user wants to keep track of.
c. record
A logically connected set of one or more fields that describes a person, place, event, or thing.
For example, a CUSTOMER record may be composed of the fields CUST_NUMBER,
CUST_LNAME, CUST_FNAME, CUST_INITIAL, CUST_ADDRESS, CUST_CITY,
CUST_STATE, CUST_ZIPCODE, CUST_AREACODE, and CUST_PHONE.
d. file
Historically, a collection of file folders, properly tagged and kept in a filing cabinet. Although
such manual files still exist, we more commonly think of a (computer) file as a collection of
related records that contain information of interest to the end user. For example, a sales
organization is likely to keep a file containing customer data. Keep in mind that the phrase
related records reflects a relationship based on function. For example, customer data are
kept in a file named CUSTOMER. The records in this customer file are related by the fact that
they all pertain to customers. Similarly, a file named PRODUCT would contain records that
describe productsâ€â€the records in this file are all related by the fact that they all pertain to
products. You would not expect to find customer data in a product file, or vice versa.