Using Tabulated Information

Abstract Different tabulation formats for currency conversion tables wore examined. It was found that most formats could be used equally well to make conversions bi-directionally, i.e. from A to B and from 13 to A. A fully redundant table, one that required no additional arithmetic operations, could be used more quickly than a schematic table, and in schematic tables it was more important to have each of the major units given directly rather than each of the minor units. A matrix, although fully redundant, was much more difficult to use than the corresponding table of lists. Many subjects clearly did not understand the principles of matrix format. Measures of incidental learning suggested that practice at using a table resulted in only slight knowledge of the content of the table, even though much of each table could be generated from a single rule