Abstract
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 program 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 and square functions, to use freely equations of straight lines and curves, and to anticipate the graphical methods for solving second degree equations.
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Tournès, D. (2018). Calculating with Hyperbolas and Parabolas. In: Let History into the Mathematics Classroom. History of Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57150-8_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57150-8_8
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