Abstract.
The concept of multiplicity in UML derives from that of cardinality in entity-relationship modeling techniques. The UML documentation defines this concept but at the same time acknowledges some lack of obviousness in the specification of multiplicities for n-ary associations. This paper shows an ambiguity in the definition given by UML documentation and proposes a clarification to this definition, as well as the use of outer and inner multiplicities as a simple extension to the current notation to represent other multiplicity constraints, such as participation constraints, that are equally valuable in understanding n-ary associations.
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Initial submission: 16 January 2002 / Revised submission: 17 October 2002 Published online: 2 December 2002
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ID="*"A previous shorter version of this paper was presented under the title “Semantics of the Minimum Multiplicity in Ternary Associations in UML” at The 4th International Conference on the Unified Modeling Language-UML’2001, October 1–5 2001, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Springer Verlag, LNCS 2185, pp. 329–341.
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Génova, G., Llorens, J. & Martínez, P. The meaning of multiplicity of n-ary associations in UML . SoSyM 1, 86–97 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-002-0009-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-002-0009-3