Table Vs. Graph

Tables and graphs are two primary means to structure and communicate Quantitative information. This sections help you to select tables and graphs for your particular purpose .

When the Quantitative information  which you want to convey consists only of a single number and two , written language is an effective means to communicate (form of sentence..).e.g.

As describe in previous section about Quantitative  and categorical value , it plays an important role  while taking any design decision .but for more clarification , number do not always represent the Quantitative value but use as to label thing and not having any Quantitative meaning. e.g. patient Id, number that identify the year (2010).These are the example that express categorical data . So before categorized your data ask one Question from yourself that "Would it make sense to add these number up , or to perform any mathematical operation on them".

So to select the appropriate medium of communication , we must understand the needs of our audience as well as  the purposes for which the various forms of display can be used .

Table definition :

A table is a structure for organizing and displaying information ; a table exhibits following characteristics :

• Information is arranged in column and rows.
• Information is encoded as text (including numbers and words).

Whenever you have more than one set of values, and relationship exist between values in the separate set  , you may use a table to align the related values by placing them in the same row or column .

A table works best when:

• The display will be used to look up individual values.
• It will be used to compare individual values but not entire series of values to one another.
• Precise values are required .
• The Quantitative information to be communicated involves more than one unit measure .
• Both summary and detail values are included.

Graphs definition:

Graph exhibits following characteristics:-

• Value are displayed within in an area delineated by one or more axes.
• Values are encoded as visual objects positioned in relation to the axes.
• Axes provide scales (quantitative and categorical ) that are used to label and assign values to the visual objects.

So Graph is a visual display of the quantitative information .whereas tables encode Quantitative values as text .the visual nature of graphs endows them with their unique power to reveal patterns of various  types, including changes , differences, similarities, and exception .

A Graph works best when:

• The message is contained in the shape of the values (e.g. , pattern, trends, and exceptions).
• The display will be used to reveal relationships among whole set of values