Meaning of "n:m" and "1:n" in database design

Question

In database design what do n:m and 1:n mean?

Does it have anything to do with keys or relationships?

Answer 1

m:n is used to denote a many-to-many relationship (m objects on the other side related to n on the other) while 1:n refers to a one-to-many relationship (1 object on the other side related to n on the other).

Answer 2

1:n means 'one-to-many'; you have two tables, and each row of table A may be referenced by any number of rows in table B, but each row in table B can only reference one row in table A (or none at all).

n:m (or n:n) means 'many-to-many'; each row in table A can reference many rows in table B, and each row in table B can reference many rows in table A.

A 1:n relationship is typically modelled using a simple foreign key - one column in table A references a similar column in table B, typically the primary key. Since the primary key uniquely identifies exactly one row, this row can be referenced by many rows in table A, but each row in table A can only reference one row in table B.

A n:m relationship cannot be done this way; a common solution is to use a link table that contains two foreign key columns, one for each table it links. For each reference between table A and table B, one row is inserted into the link table, containing the IDs of the corresponding rows.