database-normalization

I have read different tutorials and seen different examples of normalization, specially the notion of "repeating groups" in the first normal form. From them I have have gathered that repeating groups are "kind-of" multi-valued attributes (e.g. here and here ). But we already make separate tables for each multi-valued attribute by including foreign keys from the parent table during the process of mapping an ERM (Entity relationship Model) to a RDM (Relational Data Model)? Reference: this Secondly, are those "repeating groups" essentially laid out horizontally in the same row, or can the same

I read something like below in 1NF form of DBMS. There was a sentence as follows: "Every column should be atomic." Can anyone please explain it to me thoroughly with an example? "Every column should be atomic." Chris Date says, " Please note very carefully that it is not just simple things like the integer 3 that are legitimate values. On the contrary, values can be arbitrarily complex; for example, a value might be a geometric point, or a polygon, or an X ray, or an XML document, or a fingerprint, or an array, or a stack, or a list, or a relation (and so on)."[1] He also says, "A relvar is in

Given a database system which deals with Staff, Customers and Suppliers, all of which have multiple possible phone numbers, how would you go about storing these numbers in a nice normalised way? I have a had a little think about and the logical way isn't jumping out at me. In most cases . . . "Staff" always describes people. Some customers are people. Some customers are businesses (organizations). "Suppliers" are usually (always?) organizations. Staff can also be customers. Suppliers can also be customers. There are serious problems with having separate tables of staff phone numbers, supplier