Data in mathematics is the collection of facts which can be values or measurements. They consist of numbers or observations or values or just description of the things. Data is mainly of two types, quantitative data which consists of numbers and qualitative data which consists of descriptive information that which describes something. Quantitative data can be further categorized into discrete and continuous data. A discrete data can be only certain values or whole numbers and continuous data can be any value within the given range. These values can be tabulated for better understanding of the given data. Data Table as the name suggests is the data tabulated in rows and columns. Data Table Definition is the tabulated display of information or data in named rows and columns.
Example of a data table : The rainfall (in mm) in a city on 7 days of a certain week was recorded as follows:
Day Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
Rainfall 0.0 12.4 3.2 0.0 20.4 6.8 1.2
(in mm)
Two way Table is a table in which the data is categorized in a two way that is a cross classification table.
In a two way table we have a column of data for one input and a row of data for the second input. At the intersection of the row and the column the
answer is written.
The following is a two way table showing the information about the number of girls and boys with their ages, in year 9, in year 10, in year 11 in a school
Year 9 Year 10 Year 11
Boys 70 80 140
Girls 75 110 170
Total 145 190 310
In the above two way data table we have two parameters boys and girls at once in the rows and in the columns the ages with number of girls and boys. This two way table is useful to estimate the probability of an outcome.
Creating a Data Table
• First the table is to be named. The title should be related to the data put in the table.
• Next we need to figure out how many rows and columns are required according to the data given
• We need to now draw the table with the necessary rows and columns. The top row and the first column are used for labeling. The leftmost column is for the independent variables for instance, if the data is about the rainfall in the previous year. Here, the independent variable will be the ‘months of the year’. So, the leftmost column is labeled ‘Month’ and the next column is labeled as ‘rainfall’
• The experiment outcomes are recorded in the appropriate columns. The information displayed in the table should be clear and obvious. All the spaces should be filled with a number, no space should be left. If any derived result from the data or an average in the given data should be written in the right most column.
• Finally the table has to be checked thoroughly making sure all the data is clear and correct for further use of the information of the data table.
