Weak Entities


A weak entity is an entity whose occurrences are dependent for their existence, through a relationship R, on the occurrence of another (strong) entity.

The primary identifier lineno for the weak entity line_item is only meaningful within some order. This implies the primary identifier for the line_item must include the attributes in the primary identifier for the order entity.

Multi-valued attribute (hobbies) could be identified as a weak entity, but not vice verse.



      “The wisest are the most annoyed at the loss of time.”    
      ― Dante Alighieri