Normalization: reduce redundancy, 3NF/BCNF. Denormalization: add redundancy for read performance. Normalize for: integrity, smaller writes, less inconsistency. Denormalize for: fewer joins, faster reads, data warehouses. Trade-off: writes vs. reads. DW often denormalizes (star schema) for analytics. OLTP: normalize. OLAP: denormalize strategically. **Why it matters**: Design choices compound at scale—wrong approach can cause 100× overhead....
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