Algorithmic Applications For A New Result On Multivalued Dependencies

Recently Delobel and Parker have shown that Multivalued dependencies (MVDs) may be represented as Boolean switching functions, in much the same way as Functional dependencies (FDs) can be represented as Boolean implications. This permits all FD and MVD inferences to be made as logical (Boolean) inferences, a significant plus because the FD/MVD inference axioms are fairly complex. This paper reviews some of the basic implications of this result and outlines new applications in FD/MVD membership testing, generation of dependency closure, cover, and keys, and testing for lossless and independent decompositions.