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Economics · Ch 10 — Presentation of Data

Body of the Table

10.4.5

Body of the Table

The body of the table is its main part — it holds the actual data. Every figure in the body has a fixed location determined jointly by the row and the column it lies in.

Because each cell is pinpointed this way, a reader can identify exactly what any number represents: for example, the value standing in a particular row (say, rural females) and a particular column (say, non-workers) tells us precisely that many crore rural females were non-workers. The body is thus the part that actually carries the information; the other parts exist to make it readable. …

Table 4.5Population of India according to workers and non-workers by gender and location, 2001 — the annotated 'parts of a table' exhibit this section walks through

This is the working example the whole of §4.4 points to when it says “(See Table 4.5)” — every labelled part of a good statistical table, shown on one real table.

  • Table Number: 4.5 — identifies this table among every other table in the chapter (read as “the fifth table of the fourth chapter”).
  • Title: Population of India according to workers and non-workers by gender and location, 2001.
  • Column Headings (Captions): Workers (split into Main / Marginal / Total), Non-worker, and Total — label what each column holds.
  • Row Headings (Stubs): Location (Rural / Urban / All) crossed with Gender (Male / Female / Total) — label what each row holds.
  • Unit of Measurement: Crore, stated alongside the title.
LocationGenderMainMarginalWorkers TotalNon-workerTotal
RuralMale173201838
Female65112536
Total238314374
UrbanMale718715
Female1011213
Total8191928
AllMale244282553
Female75123749
Total3194062102