Nature of the mathematical object “table”

Abstract

This article offers a broad vision of the process of evolution of ideas on tables, their connotation of tools, emergence and development in different societies and cultures at different moments in history; questions that contribute to the knowledge about this object and its didactic scope. The reflection on the trajectory of the table and its presence as a storage tool, as a calculation tool in numbering and metrology systems, and as a tool of analysis in scientific and mathematical fields, helps to clarify its origin and nature as a mathematical object.