Editing Table (information) (section)

== 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 (database)|row]]''' has several common synonyms (e.g., [[Record (computer science)|record]], k-[[tuple]], n-tuple, vector);
* the term '''[[Column (database)|column]]''' has several common synonyms (e.g., field, parameter, property, attribute, stanchion);
* 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 [[table cell|cell]].

The elements of a table may be grouped, segmented, or arranged in many different ways, and even nested [[Recursion|recursively]]. Additionally, a table may include [[metadata]], [[annotations]], a header,<ref name="header">see e.g., [[Page header]] or [[Header (computing)]]</ref> a [[Page footer|footer]] or other ancillary features.<ref name="Zielinski000" />

=== Simple table ===
The following illustrates a simple table with four 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".

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Age table
|-
! First name !! Last name !! Age !! Gender
|-
| Tinu || Elejogun || 14 || F
|-
| Javier || Zapata || 28 || M
|-
| Lily || McGarrett || 18 || F
|-
| Olatunkbo || Chijiaku || 22 || M
|-
| Adrienne || Anthoula || 22 || M
|-
| Axelia || Athanasios || 22 || M
|-
| Jon-Kabat || Zinn || 22 || M
|-
| Thabang || Mosoa || 15 || F
|-
| Rhian || Ellis || 12 || M
|-
|}

=== Multi-dimensional table ===
[[File:Rollup table.png|thumb|An example of a table containing rows with summary information. The summary information consists of subtotals that are combined from previous rows within the same column.]]

The concept of '''dimension''' is also a part of basic terminology.<ref>The concept of "dimension" is often applied to tables in different contexts and with different meanings. For example, what is described as a "Simple Table" in this article is alternatively described as a "two dimensional array". This is distinct from "multi-dimensional table" as presented in this article.</ref> Any "simple" table can be represented as a "multi-dimensional"
table by [[Database normalization|normalizing]] the data values into ordered [[hierarchies]]. A common example of such a table is a [[multiplication table]].

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ style="white-space:nowrap" |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 (and the value of that cell) relates to the values at the beginnings of the column (i.e. the header), the row, and other structures in more complex tables. This is an [[injective function|injective relation]]: each combination of the values of the headers row (row 0, for lack of a better term) and the headers column (column 0 for lack of a better term) is related to a unique cell in
the table:

* Column 1 and row 1 will only correspond to cell (1,1);
* Column 1 and row 2 will only correspond to cell (2,1) etc.

The first column often presents information dimension description by which the rest of the table is navigated. This column is called "stub column". Tables may contain three or multiple dimensions and can be classified by the number of dimensions. Multi-dimensional tables may have super-rows - rows that describe additional dimensions for the rows that are presented below that row and are usually grouped in a tree-like structure.  This structure is typically visually presented with an appropriate number of white spaces in front of each stub's label.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Milosevic N, Gregson C, Hernandez R, Nenadic G | title = Disentangling the Structure of Tables in Scientific Literature | journal = Proceedings of 21st International Conference on Applications of Natural Language to Information Systems (NLDB 2016) | series = Lecture Notes in Computer Science | pages = 162–174 | date = June 2016 | volume = 9612 | doi = 10.1007/978-3-319-41754-7_14| isbn = 978-3-319-41753-0 | s2cid = 19538141 | url = https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/41051279/Disentangling_the_Structure_of_Tables_in_Scientific_Literature.pdf }}</ref>

In literature tables often present numerical values, cumulative statistics, categorical values, and at times parallel descriptions in form of text.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Milosevic N, Gregson C, Hernandez R, Nenadic G | title = A framework for information extraction from tables in biomedical literature | journal = International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition | volume = 22 | issue = 1 | pages = 55–78 | date = February 2019 | doi = 10.1007/s10032-019-00317-0 | arxiv = 1902.10031 | s2cid = 62880746 }}</ref> They can condense large amount of information to a limited space and therefore they are popular in scientific literature in many fields of study.
[[File:Philosophical_Transactions_-_Volume_001.djvu|thumb|right|page=60|[[Adrien Auzout]]'s "A TABLE of the Apertures of Object-Glasses" from [[:s:Philosophical Transactions/Volume 1/Number 4#56|a 1665 article]] in ''[[Philosophical Transactions]]'']]