Definition of "table variable" and "base table" When reading SQL standard text (SQL:2003), I can not get the meaning of following sentence (in "Cluase 4.3 Tables" in SQL:2003-1):


  SQL-data consists entirely of table variables, called base tables.


I can not find the definition of "table variable" in the standard text, am I miss something obvious?
Community wiki answer:

A table variable is an instance of a table. Tables are called relations in relational algebra - hence relational variable (or relvar for short).

Base table means that they are not views which are derived from base tables.