72. What is Functional Dependency?

Functional dependency is a relationship that exists when one attribute uniquely determines another attribute.

If R is a relation with attributes X and Y, a functional dependency between the attributes is represented as X->Y, which specifies Y is functionally dependent on X. Here X is a determinant set and Y is a dependent attribute. Each value of X is associated precisely with one Y value.

Functional dependency in a database serves as a constraint between two sets of attributes. Defining functional dependency is an important part of relational database design and contributes to aspect normalization.