Question

An attribute is a characteristic or property of an entity. If person is an entity, would the same attributes be used to describe a person in different databases that store medical, student, and fitness club data? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Perhaps. It depends on what information is needed. Some attributes about a person would be the same regardless of what type of application was being used, such as first and last name, address, and other contact information. Other attributes are specific to the application and would require new entities. A medical database would have entities with attributes to describe appointments, lab results, and medications to name a few. A student database would have entities and attributes to describe courses taken, credits, grades, and academic major. A fitness database would have entities and attributes to describe membership level, athletic ability, fitness classes, fees, and liability waivers.

Attributes like name, address are universal; specific databases require tailored entities like medical records.