Table and its types

Table should be structured to  suit the nature of the information they mean to display .so purpose of this section is to identifying what table can be used to display , followed by how they can be structured visually.

Information that we display in table always exhibits a specific relationship between individual values . These are the possible relationships which guide us to design table effectively . 

Quantitative to Categorical Relationships

		Structure type
Relationship	Primary function	Unidirectional	Bidirectional
Between a single set of quantitative value and a single set of Categorical items.	Look up	yes	Not applicable because there is only one set of categorical items
Between a single set of quantitative value and the intersection of multiple Categories.	Look up	Yes sometimes this structure is preferred because of the convention	Yes. structure save the space
Between a single set of quantitative values and the intersection of multiple hierarchical Categories.	Look up	Yes this structure can clearly display the hierarchical relationship by placing the separate levels of the hierarchy side by side in adjacent columns.	Yes. However, this structure does not display the hierarchy as clearly if its separate levels are split between the columns and rows.

Quantitative to Quantitative Relationships

		Structure type
Relationship	Primary function	Unidirectional	Bidirectional
Among a single set of quantitative values associated with the multiple Categorical items.	Comparison	Yes	Yes. This structure works especially well because the Quantitative values are arranged closely together for easy comparison.
Among distinct set of quantitative values associated with the single  Categorical items.	Comparison	Yes	Yes. However this structure tends to get messy as you add multiple sets of Quantitative values .

Variations in table design

Unidirectional - categorical items are laid out in one direction only (i.e. either across columns and down the rows).  e.g.

Bidirectional - categorical items are laid out in both directions.  e.g.

Comparison on  same table  (diagram)