In normalization, which type of dependency does 3NF remove?

• A. Partial dependency
• B. Transitive dependency
• C. Full dependency
• D. Deterministic dependency

Answer: (B)

3NF focuses on removing transitive dependencies: a non-key attribute ends up depending on another non-key attribute rather than directly on the key. When a value can be determined by going through an intermediate attribute, you have a transitive dependency. To reach 3NF, you restructure so that non-key attributes rely only on the key of their relation. For example, if a table has EmployeeID, EmployeeName, DeptID, and DeptName, and DeptName depends on DeptID while DeptID depends on EmployeeID, DeptName ends up transitively depending on the key. Splitting DeptName into its own Departments table (with DeptID as the key) removes that transitive path, satisfying 3NF. Partial dependencies (dependencies on part of a composite key) are addressed by 2NF, not 3NF, and the other terms aren’t the ones 3NF targets.