Notational differences in expressing multiplicity

Multiplicity, also know as cardinality to many Rational Rose® users, specifies how many instances of one classifier may be associated with a single instance of another classifier. While the general definition of multiplicity has not changed between different versions of UML, the multiplicity notation that appears on diagram elements has changed.

In Rose and UML 1.4, a simple "n" represented an unlimited upper bound for multiplicity notation; in recent versions of UML, an unlimited bound is represented by an asterisk " *." When you import a Rose model, all multiplicity notation will reflect the newer UML convention.

Rose Multiplicity Notation Software Architect Multiplicity Notation Multiplicity Description
n * Unlimited number of instances
1 1 Exactly 1 instance
0..n * 0 or more instances
1..n 1,,* 1 or more instances
0..1 0..1 0 or 1 instances

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