Question

If we are told A1 is a candidate key for a relation R(A1, A2, A3), what can we not immediately conclude?

Answer 1

If A1 is a candidate key for a relation R(A1, A2, A3), we can conclude several things immediately except for whether A2 or A3 are also candidate keys.

Step-by-step explanation:

If we are told that A1 is a candidate key for a relation R(A1, A2, A3), there are several things that we can immediately conclude, but there is one thing that we cannot conclude. Here are the things that we can conclude:

1. A candidate key uniquely identifies each tuple in the relation. Therefore, A1 uniquely identifies each combination of values in relation R.
2. A candidate key satisfies the properties of minimality and irreducibility. This means that no subset of the candidate key can uniquely identify tuples in the relation.
3. Since A1 is a candidate key, it must be a super key for relation R. This means that A1, on its own, can determine all other attributes in the relation.

However, what we cannot immediately conclude is whether A2 or A3 are also candidate keys for relation R. Additional information is needed to determine if A2 or A3 satisfy the properties of minimality and irreducibility.