The next sections discuss the normal forms, an integral concept involved in the process of database normalization.
Normal form is a way of measuring the levels, or depth, to which a database has been normalized. A database's level of normalization is determined by the normal form.
The following are the three most common normal forms in the normalization process:
The first normal form
The second normal form
The third normal form
Of the three normal forms, each subsequent normal form depends on normalization steps taken in the previous normal form. For example, to normalize a database using the second normal form, the database must first be in the first normal form.
