Corrections to Ram's synthesis approach for relational database design

The purpose of this paper is to expose some inaccuracies presented in a paper by Ram and Curran. [Inform. Sci. 52(1):53-73 (1990)]. The synthesis approach described uses an algorithm, Synthesizer (Algorithm 3.2.1), to provide more nonredundant covers, and it also includes several heuristics to aid the design of relational databases. However, the final design may not be minimal in regard to the number of 3NF relations. This paper improves the approach by considering the minimization of the final relational database schemata. Finally, an implementation is presented, and it is illustrated through an example