Relational Databases and Decision Support

The video tutorial reviews decision support systems, focusing on relational databases. It highlights the limitations of spreadsheets, such as complexity and data handling issues, and contrasts these with the advantages of relational databases, which can manage more complex data types and relationships. The tutorial also touches on other decision support systems like expert systems and artificial neural networks.

What is considered the most basic form of a decision support system?

• Relational database

• Artificial neural network

• Spreadsheet

• Expert system

What distinguishes a relational database from a flat file database?

• It uses a single table

• It has interconnected tables

• It is faster than spreadsheets

• It only stores text data

What is a major challenge when using spreadsheets for decision support?

• Limited to text data

• Inability to perform calculations

• Increasing complexity with more data

• Lack of user interface

Why can increasing the complexity of a spreadsheet be problematic?

• It becomes less accurate

• It becomes disproportionately complicated

• It cannot handle text data

• It requires more storage space

What is a limitation of spreadsheets when handling large amounts of data?

• They cannot perform calculations

• They become difficult to interpret

• They are not user-friendly

• They can only store numerical data

What type of data can relational databases handle that spreadsheets struggle with?

• Basic arithmetic

• Numerical data

• Text and binary large objects

• Simple calculations

What language is used to interact with relational databases?

• Java

• SQL

• HTML

• Python

How does SQL improve data management in relational databases?

• It is easier to read than spreadsheet formulas

• It uses complex syntax

• It only works with numerical data

• It requires no learning

What is a benefit of using relational databases over spreadsheets?

• They require less training

• They are cheaper

• They handle complex data types better

• They are faster to set up

Why might a relational database be preferred for complex decision support systems?

• They can handle more data types and complexity

• They require less maintenance

• They are easier to use

• They are more visually appealing