What is the purpose of a stand-alone table in GIS?

The purpose of a stand-alone table in GIS is primarily to enable nonspatial joins with feature classes. Stand-alone tables are used to store attribute data that can be related to spatial features without being tied to a specific geographic location. This capability allows users to integrate and analyze data from various sources, facilitating more comprehensive spatial analysis by linking nonspatial information to spatial features.

In context, while spatial analysis is a crucial component of GIS, it typically involves datasets that include spatial attributes. Managing vector data also requires a connection to spatial features, which stand-alone tables do not inherently provide. Furthermore, stand-alone tables are designed specifically to handle tabular data, without the requirement of spatial attributes, which is why they don't exclusively store spatial data only, making the option focusing on nonspatial joins the most suitable choice.