The Coordinate Plane

sometimes called the Cartesian Plane, or coordinate system

Class Notes:Vocabularycoordinate plane

- a numbered grid (think graph paper)

-axis-

a horizontal number line that stretches from the smallest negative number to the largestpositive number{....-5, -4, -3, -2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5....}

-axis-

a vertical number line that stretches from the smallest negative number to the largestpositive number and intersects the x-axis at the zero of both number lines.

origin

(0, 0)

the point where the

-axis and the

-axis intersect and the startingpoint

ordered pair

(

x, y

)

used to describe the location of a point on the coordinate plane

-coordinate

(x, _)

the first number in the ordered pair found on the

-axis number line

-coordinate

(_, y)

the second number in the ordered pair found on the

-axis number line

quadrants

- the intersection of the x-axis and the y-axis divide the coordinate plane into foursections known as quadrants. (quad always means four)The quadrants are I, II, III, and IV.They are numbered counter-clockwise beginning in the uppermost right hand corner.They are always written using Roman numerals.

quadrant I- (+, -)

All points in quadrant I have a positive

-coordinate and a negative

-coordinate.

quadrant II- (-, +)

All points in quadrant II have a negative

-coordinate and a positive

-coordinate.

quadrant III- (-,-)

All points in quadrant III have a negative x-coordinate and a negativey-coordinate.

quadrant IV- (+, -)

All points in quadrant IV have a positive x-coordinate and a negativey-coordinate.