The concept of representation capability of databases

The representation capability of an information system in general and a database in particular seems an important and yet elusive concept, which is concerned with in our view how a database ever becomes capable of representing real-world objects accurately or otherwise. To explore how to approach and then define this concept, we explore what is meant by that a database connection (i.e., a connection between database constructs such as entities in an Entity-relationship (ER) diagram and relations in a relational schema that are made available by a database) refers to, represents and accurately represents a real-world relation respectively. We also find that that the information content of the former includes the latter is a sufficient and necessary condition for the former to be able to accurately represent the latter. All these make the concept of representation capability of a database approachable and definable.