What is the basic difference between a star schema and a snowflake schema?
💡 Model Answer
A star schema has a central fact table surrounded by denormalized dimension tables. Each dimension is a single table that contains all attributes, so queries can join the fact to each dimension in one step. A snowflake schema normalizes the dimensions into multiple related tables, creating a tree‑like structure. The snowflake reduces redundancy and saves storage, but requires more joins to reconstruct a dimension. The star is simpler and faster for read‑heavy workloads; the snowflake is more storage‑efficient and can be easier to maintain when dimension hierarchies change.
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