Fundamentals of Computing Practice Test

Atomicity is the key idea here: each cell in a table should hold a single value. First normal form enforces that, so there are no repeating groups or multi-valued attributes in any column. If a row has a field with multiple values (like several phone numbers in one cell), that data isn’t in 1NF. The remedy is to restructure so every value is atomic—often by splitting into multiple rows or creating a separate table for the repeated data. Once 1NF is achieved, higher normal forms (2NF, 3NF, BCNF) address how attributes depend on keys, not whether values are atomic. Therefore, the form that targets eliminating repeating groups is 1NF.