International audience Graphical tables (abaques and nomograms) can give rise to original activities for 16 to 18 year olds with a strong historical and cross-curricular element. These activities lend themselves to a practical way of dealing with information and highlighting the changes in presentation (graphic, numerical, algebraic and geometric) as well as offering a motivating topic area for the usual functions required by the programme of study. They also allow the active use of the basic techniques of geometry in an unusual setting. This chapter deals with practical work trialled in a class of 16 year olds, based on two types of multiplication abaques situated in their historical and cultural background: a concurrent-line abaque using a family of hyperbolas and an alignment nomogram with a plotted parabola. The use of these graphical tables allowed the students to revisit their knowledge of inverse square functions, to use freely equations of straight lines and curves, and to anticipate the graphical methods for solving second degree equations.