Representing composites in conceptual modeling

Using an object or entity class to represent a composite provides straightforward answers, making this approach superior to the use of relationship classes or associations. Composites are important phenomena that occur frequently in the real world [8]. A composite is a thing that is composed of other things. For example, a bicycle is composed of wheels and a frame, an orchestra is composed of a conductor and various musicians, and a team is composed of a leader and members. Because conceptual models are models of reality and composites are a part of that reality, we must be able to represent composites faithfully as a basis for building databases, knowledge bases, and information systems in general. Otherwise, our ability to understand and reason about composites and their comp9onents will be fundamentally impaired [1].