How to Tell if a Table is Linear. You can tell if a table is linear by looking at how X and Y change. If, as X increases by 1, Y increases by a constant rate, then a table is linear. You can find the constant rate by finding the first difference. X. I can’t see the whole tables so it’s hard to tell. But that’s how you figure it out. Even though I didn’t give you the exact answer I hope this helped.