Why is it sometimes advisable to use data denormalization in a database?

Data denormalization is the process of intentionally duplicating data in a database to improve query performance. While normalization eliminates redundancy and ensures data integrity, it can lead to complex and slow JOIN operations.

Denormalization is advisable when:

• There is a need to speed up data reading, especially in systems with a high number of read requests.
• Complex queries with many JOINs slow down the application.
• There is an opportunity to sacrifice redundancy for performance.

For example, in an online store, the product category name can be stored directly in the products table to avoid JOINs with the categories table for each query.

However, denormalization complicates data updates, as duplicated values need to be synchronized.