In an Access flat file database, all of the data is collected together into a single table. As an example, consider a database that stores all of the phone numbers and addresses of your friends and colleagues. If there were only three fields, say Name , Address , and Phone , then there would be some duplication if one person had more than one phone number such as a home phone, mobile phone, and fax line. For such a simple database, such duplication would not be much of a problem. A relational database offers a complex solution to larger problems.
Relational databases attempt to minimize storage space by eliminating redundant data.
To do so, the data is separated into two or more tables. Let's revisit the database described above. Given that many folks now have more than one phone number, there would be a lot of redundancy of records. Of course, that could be eliminated by having more than one phone field. To do this relationally, you could have one table with all of the student's home information, another table with a list of all of the courses taught by each department, and a third table with transcript information.