Example of a strong and weak entity types
I've tried to look on Google about a decent explanation of weak and strong entity type, but I haven't fully understood them.
Could someone give me an example of a strong and weak entity type?
A weak entity is one that can only exist when owned by another one. For example: a ROOM can only exist in a BUILDING. On the other hand, a TIRE might be considered as a strong entity because it also can exist without being attached to a CAR.
Just to play with it, question is strong entity type and answer is weak. Question is always there, but an answer requires a question to exist.
Example: Don't ask 'Why?' if Your Dad's a Chemistry Professor
A weak entity is the entity which can't be fully identified by its own attributes and takes the foreign key as an attribute (generally it takes the primary key of the entity it is related to) in conjunction.
Examples
The existence of rooms is entirely dependent on the existence of a hotel. So room can be seen as the weak entity of the hotel.
Another example is the
bank account of a particular bank has no existence if the bank doesn't exist anymore.