diff --git a/basis/strings/tables/tables.factor b/basis/strings/tables/tables.factor
index d8aced9da0..c6ccba5a78 100644
--- a/basis/strings/tables/tables.factor
+++ b/basis/strings/tables/tables.factor
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 ! Copyright (C) 2009 Slava Pestov.
 ! See http://factorcode.org/license.txt for BSD license.
-USING: kernel sequences fry ;
+USING: kernel sequences fry math.order ;
 IN: strings.tables
 
 <PRIVATE
 
 : format-column ( seq ? -- seq )
     [
-        dup [ length ] map supremum
+        dup [ length ] [ max ] map-reduce
         '[ _ CHAR: \s pad-tail ] map
     ] unless ;