Which relationship or association exists between a supertype and its subtype entities?

Indatabase modeling, the relationship between asupertype and its subtypesis called anIsA relationship.

Example Usage:

AVehicle supertypemay haveCar and Truck subtypes.

Vehicle

├── Car

├── Truck

InER diagrams, this is represented as:

Vehicle (Supertype)

|

├── Car (Subtype)

├── Truck (Subtype)

SQL Table Implementation:

sql

CREATE TABLE Vehicle (

VehicleID INT PRIMARY KEY,

Make VARCHAR(50),

Model VARCHAR(50)

);

CREATE TABLE Car (

VehicleID INT PRIMARY KEY,

FOREIGN KEY (VehicleID) REFERENCES Vehicle(VehicleID),

EngineType VARCHAR(50)

);

CREATE TABLE Truck (

VehicleID INT PRIMARY KEY,

FOREIGN KEY (VehicleID) REFERENCES Vehicle(VehicleID),

CargoCapacity INT

);

This structurepreserves the IsA relationshipbetween Vehicle (supertype) and Car/Truck (subtypes).

Why Other Options Are Incorrect:

Option A (Strong entity) (Incorrect):Strong entitiesdo not rely on a supertype/subtype hierarchy.

Option C (Associative entity) (Incorrect):Used toresolve many-to-many relationships, not supertype/subtype relationships.

Option D (Weak entity) (Incorrect):Weak entitiesdepend on a strong entity, but supertype-subtype relations useinheritance(not dependency).

Thus, the correct answer isIsA relationship, as it describes theinheritance hierarchybetweensupertypes and subtypes.