#1. What is meant by data independence? Explain your answer.

#2. Identify two benefits of separating application software from the database management system.

#3. Design a relational database containing information about music composers, their lives, and their compositions. (Avoid redundancies similar to those in Figure 9.4)

#4. Suppose a sequential file contains 50,000 records, and 5 milliseconds are required to interrogate an entry. How long should we expect to wait when retrieving a record from the middle of the file?

#5. The chapter drew parallels between a traditional file index and the file directory system maintained by an operating system. In what ways does an operating system's file directory differ from a traditional index?

When would you choose to implement distributed databases, rather than local databases? Would you go for this design if all your computers were localized in one building? What if they are spread out in your country?

What would you recommend when they are spread worldwide? When would you mirror databases and when would you use databases tailored for the local environment?

What would you use as a hash function? Would your choice of a hash function depend on the language from which the words are chosen? Why should such a file not be stored as a sequential file?