Captions or Column Headings

At the top of each column in a table, a short column designation is given to explain what the figures in that column stand for. This heading is called the caption or column heading. It identifies the characteristic or category to which the numbers below it belong, so that a reader can tell at a glance what any figure in that column represents.

Captions run across the top of the table and describe the columns, which are read vertically. They are the vertical counterpart of the row headings (called stubs), which sit down the left-hand side and describe the rows read horizontally. Together, the captions and stubs form the framework that locates every figure: any single value in the body of the table is fixed by the intersection of its row (identified by the stub) and its column (identified by the caption). Like the title, captions should be brief and clear; wher …