A table is in fifth normal form (5NF) or Project-Join Normal Form (PJNF) if it is in 4NF and it cannot have a lossless decomposition into any number of smaller tables.

Properties of 5NF:-

• Anomalies can occur in relations in 4NF if the primary key has three or more fields.


• 5NF is based on the concept of join dependence - if a relation cannot be decomposed any further then it is in 5NF.


• Pair wise cyclical dependency means that:




• You always need to know two values (pair wise).


• For any one you must know the other two (cyclical).

Example to understand 5NF

Take the following table structure as an example of a buying table.This is used to track buyers, what they buy, and from whom they buy. Take the following sample data:

buyer	vendor	item
Sally	Liz Claiborne	Blouses
Mary	Liz Claiborne	Blouses
Sally	Jordach	Jeans
Mary	Jordach	Jeans
Sally	Jordach	Sneakers

Problem:- The problem with the above table structure is that if Claiborne starts to sell Jeans then how many records must you create to record this fact? The problem is there are pair wise cyclical dependencies in the primary key. That is, in order to determine the item you must know the buyer and vendor, and to determine the vendor you must know the buyer and the item, and finally to know the buyer you must know the vendor and the item.

Solution:- The solution is to break this one table into three tables; Buyer-Vendor, Buyer-Item, and Vendor-Item. So following tables are in the 5NF.

•  Buyer-Vendor

•  Buyer-Item

•  Vendor-Item