On the subject of tables. They are used when an equeations does not represent the system very well. The down side of them is not inacuracy, but wrather the time it takes to create them by hand.
As an example, we use a table for air density. It has data points every 500 ft. So the only error is the difference of a linier interpalation between the 2 points and what the real density is, I.E. the error is almost non existance. we do the same with tempature at altitude.
The tables we use are not sweeping performance tables but simply one data point of an equation.
Tables are typicly more precise than equations, because they can account for real world testing , where as an equation can just be an aproximation.
The choice of which to use is not a philisofical one, or a choice of which is more acurate, but which is better in each situation.
HiTech