Table (information)
A table is an arrangement of data in rows and columns, or possibly in a more complex structure. Tables are widely used in communication, research, and data analysis. Tables appear in print media, handwritten notes, computer software, architectural ornamentation, traffic signs, and many other places. The precise conventions and terminology for describing tables vary depending on the context. Further, tables differ significantly in variety, structure, flexibility, notation, representation and use. In books and technical articles, tables are typically presented apart from the main text in numbered and captioned floating blocks.
Basic description
A table consists of an ordered arrangement of rows and columns. This is a simplified description of the most basic kind of table. Certain considerations follow from this simplified description:- the term row has several common synonyms ;
- the term column has several common synonyms ;
- a column is usually identified by a name;
- a column name can consist of a word, phrase or a numerical index;
- the intersection of a row and a column is called a cell.
Simple table
The following illustrates a simple table with three columns and nine rows. The first row is not counted, because it is only used to display the column names. This is called a "header row".| First name | Last name | Age |
| Tinu | Elejogun | 14 |
| Blaszczyk | Kostrzewski | 25 |
| Lily | McGarrett | 18 |
| Olatunkbo | Chijiaku | 22 |
| Adrienne | Anthoula | 22 |
| Axelia | Athanasios | 22 |
| Jon-Kabat | Zinn | 22 |
| Thabang | Mosoa | 15 |
| Kgaogelo | Mosoa | 11 |
Multi-dimensional table
The concept of dimension is also a part of basic terminology. Any "simple" table can be represented as a "multi-dimensional"table by normalizing the data values into ordered hierarchies. A common example of such a table is a multiplication table.
| × | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | 3 | 6 | 9 |
In multi-dimensional tables, each cell in the body of the table relates to the values at the beginnings of the column, the row, and other structures in more complex tables. This is an injective relation: each combination of the values of the headers row and the headers column is related to a unique cell in
the table:
- Column 1 and row 1 will only correspond to cell ;
- Column 1 and row 2 will only correspond to cell etc.
In literature tables often present numerical values, cumulative statistics, categorical values, and at times parallel descriptions in form of text. They can condense large amount of information to a limited space and therefore they are popular in scientific literature in many fields of study.
Generic representation
As a communication tool, a table allows a form of generalization of information from an unlimited number of different social or scientific contexts. It provides a familiar way to convey information that might otherwise not be obvious or readily understood.For example, in the following diagram, two alternate representations of the same information are presented side by side. On the left is the NFPA 704 standard "fire diamond" with example values indicated and on the right is a simple table displaying the same values, along with additional information. Both representations convey essentially the same information, but the tabular representation is arguably more comprehensible to someone who is not familiar with the NFPA 704 standard. The tabular representation may not, however, be ideal for every circumstance.'s "A TABLE of the Apertures of Object-Glasses" from :s:Philosophical_Transactions/Volume_1/Number_4#56|a 1665 article in Philosophical Transactions
| Standard Representation | Tabular Representation | - | |
Specific usesThere are several specific situations in which tables are routinely used as a matter of custom or formal convention.Publishing
Software applicationsModern software applications give users the ability to generate, format, and edit tables and tabular data for a wide variety of uses, for example:
Usage in software specification can encompass ad hoc inclusion of simple decision tables in textual documents through to the use of tabular specification methodologies, examples of which include SCR and Statestep. Proponents of tabular techniques, among whom David Parnas is prominent, emphasize their understandability, as well as the quality and cost advantages of a format allowing systematic inspection, while corresponding shortcomings experienced with a graphical notation were cited in motivating the development of at least two tabular approaches. At a programming level, software may be implemented using constructs generally represented or understood as tabular, whether to store data, for example, in arrays or hash tables, or control tables determining the flow of program execution in response to various events or inputs. DatabasesDatabase systems often store data in structures called tables; in which columns are data fields and rows represent data records.Historical relationship to furnitureIn medieval counting houses, the tables were covered with a piece of checkered cloth, to count money. Exchequer is an archaic term for the English institution which accounted for money owed to the monarch. Thus the checkerboard tables of stacks of coins are a concrete realization of this information. |