Testing implications of data dependencies

Presented is a computation method—the chase—for testing implication of data dependencies by a set of data dependencies. The chase operates on tableaux similar to those of Aho, Sagiv, and Ullman. The chase includes previous tableau computation methods as special cases. By interpreting tableaux alternately as mappings or as templates for relations, it is possible to test implication of join dependencies (including multivalued dependencies) and functional dependencies by a set of dependencies. © 1979, ACM. All rights reserved.