Addressing and partitioning are very similar to scope and direction, but are most often used to describe how Table Calculations are computed with absolute reference to certain fields in the view. With addressing and partitioning, you define which dimensions in the view define the addressing (direction) and all others define the partitioning (scope).

Using addressing and partitioning gives you much finer control because your Table Calculations are no longer relative to the table layout, and you have many more options for fine-tuning the scope, direction, and order of the calculations.

To begin to understand how this works, let's consider a simple example. Using the preceding view, select Edit Table Calculation from the drop-down menu of the Index field on Text. In the resulting dialog box, check Department under Specific Dimensions.

Here is the result of selecting Department:

You'll notice that Tableau is computing Index along (in the direction of) the checked dimension, Department. In other words, you have used Department for addressing, so each new department increments the index. All other unchecked dimensions in the view are implicitly used for partitioning; that is, they define the scope or boundaries at which the index function must restart. As we saw with scope, these boundaries are sometimes referred to as a window.

The preceding view looks identical to what you would see if you set Index to compute using Pane (across). However, there is a major difference. When you use Pane (across), Index is always computed across the pane, even if you rearrange the dimensions in the view, remove some, or add others. But when you compute using a dimension for addressing, the Table Calculation will always compute using that dimension. Removing that dimension will break the Table Calculation (the field will turn red with an exclamation mark) and you'll need to edit the Table Calculation via the drop-down menu to adjust the settings. If you rearrange dimensions in the view, Index will continue to be computed along the Department dimension.

Here, for example, is the result of clicking the Swap Rows and Columns button in the toolbar:

Notice that Index continues to be computed along Department even though the entire orientation of the table has changed. To complete the following examples, we'll undo the swap of Rows and Columns to return our table to its original orientation.