I am trying to think of a name for the heading in a document where I am talking about charts and tables. Is there a concise, collective name for charts and tables I could use?
Learn English – word that encompasses “chart” and “table”
single-word-requests
Best Answer
As an alternative to the other suggestions offered, let me put forth some words that serve this purpose in various US environments.
When assigning students a project in which they need to present tables and charts in addition to (brilliantly written) text, I will ask for visuals generically, and will be given just what I seek.
Quoth M-W:
As an author of a textbook that includes charts, graphs and similar illustrations, I will talk to my publisher about figures and be understood perfectly, the context having eliminated any confusion between numbers and their depiction.
This usage for figure doesn't show up in a cursory look at M-W's online dictionary, although it certainly does in the monstrous dead-tree edition. Instead, look to the TEX community in SE to see that these charts and tables and things are indeed called figures, usually abbreviated as Fig.
While I won't quarrel with visualisation, especially at a couple of oceans' distance, and although I will grudgingly allow infographic as a comprehensible term despite its portmanteau neologism, I like these more generic terms better.