Difference between one-to-many and many-to-one relationship

sql relational-database
Zhaf picture Zhaf · Jan 5, 2011 · Viewed 184.6k times · Source

What is the real difference between one-to-many and many-to-one relationship? It is only reversed, kind of?

I can't find any 'good-and-easy-to-understand' tutorial about this topic other than this one: SQL for Beginners: Part 3 - Database Relationships

Answer

Devendra D. Chavan picture Devendra D. Chavan · Jan 5, 2011

Yes, it a vice versa. It depends on which side of the relationship the entity is present on.

For example, if one department can employ for several employees then, department to employee is a one to many relationship (1 department employs many employees), while employee to department relationship is many to one (many employees work in one department).

More info on the relationship types:

Database Relationships - IBM DB2 documentation

Related questions

What is the difference between Views and Materialized Views in Oracle?

What is the difference between Views and Materialized Views in Oracle?

Read More
How to create relationships in MySQL

In class, we are all 'studying' databases, and everyone is using Access. Bored with this, I am trying to do what the rest of the class is doing, but with raw SQL commands with MySQL instead of using Access. I …

Read More
What are the options for storing hierarchical data in a relational database?

Good Overviews Generally speaking, you're making a decision between fast read times (for example, nested set) or fast write times (adjacency list). Usually, you end up with a combination of the options below that best fit your needs. The following …

Read More