Co-ordinate Plane

In this unit we'll be learning about equations in two variables. A coordinate plane is an
important tool for working with these equations. It is formed by a horizontal number line,
called the x-axis, and a vertical number line, called the y-axis. The two axes intersect at a
point called the origin.

You can locate any point on the coordinate plane by an ordered pair of numbers (x,y), called
the coordinates.

Move your mouse cursor over the coordinate plane to learn more.

The idea of graphing with coordinate axes dates all the way back to Apollonius in the second
century B.C. Rene Descartes, who lived in the 1600s, gets the credit for coming up with the
two-axis system we use today. The story goes that he lay in bed and watched flies crawling
over tiles on the ceiling. He realized that he could describe a fly's position using the
intersecting lines of the tiles. The system is often called the "Cartesian coordinate system" in
his honor.

When working with equations that have two variables, the coordinate plane is an important
tool. It's a way to draw pictures of equations that makes them easier to understand.

To create a coordinate plane, start with a sheet of graph or grid paper. Next, draw a horizontal
line. This line is called the x-axis and is used to locate values of x. To show that the axis
actually goes on forever in both directions, use small arrowheads at each end of the line. Mark
off a number line with zero in the center, positive numbers to the right, and negative numbers
to the left.
Next draw a vertical line that intersects the x axis at zero. This line is called the y-axis and is
used to locate the values of y. Mark off a number line with zero in the center, positive numbers
going upwards, and negative numbers going downwards. The point where the x and y axes
intersect is called the origin. The origin is located at zero on the x axis and zero on the y axis.

Locating Points Using Ordered Pairs

We can locate any point on the coordinate plane using an ordered pair of numbers like the
example shown here, the ordered pair 4 and 2 (point P). We call the ordered pair the
coordinates of the point. The coordinates of a point are called an ordered pair because the
order of the two numbers is important.

The first number in the ordered pair is the x coordinate. It describes the number of units to the
left or right of the origin. The second number in the ordered pair is the y coordinate. It
describes the number of units above or below the origin. To plot a point, start at the origin
and count along the x axis until you reach the x coordinate, count right for positive numbers,
left for negative. Then count up or down the number of the y coordinate (up for positive, down
for negative.)

For example, to graph the point P above, with the ordered pair (4, 2) we count right along the
x axis 4 units, and then count up 2 units. Be careful to always start with the x axis, the point
(4,2) is very different than the point (2,4)!

Quadrants
To make it easy to talk about where on the coordinate plane a point is, we divide the
coordinate plane into four sections called quadrants.
Points in Quadrant 1 have positive x and positive y coordinates.
Points in Quadrant 2 have negative x but positive y coordinates.
Points in Quadrant 3 have negative x and negative y coordinates.
Points in Quadrant 4 have positive x but negative y coordinates.

Example:

Test:

Type the letter of the point that matches each ordered pair.

(0,-4)

(6,5)

(-3,-2)
(4,-4)
(4,6)
(2,1)
(-5,0)

(-4,3)

Slope and y-intercept

Every straight line can be represented by an equation: y = mx + b. The coordinates of every
point on the line will solve the equation if you substitute them in the equation for x and y.

The slope m of this line - its steepness, or slant - can be calculated like this:
m = change in y-value
change in x-value
The equation of any straight line, called a linear equation, can be written as: y = mx + b,
where m is the slope of the line and b is the y-intercept. 

The y-intercept of this line is the value of y at the point where the line crosses the y
axis. 

In Depth:

In the previous lesson, you learned how to graph points on the coordinate plane. We can
connect two points with a straight line.

To graph the equation of a line, we plot at least two points whose coordinates satisfy the
equation, and then connect the points with a line. We call these equations "linear" because
the graph of these equations is a straight line.

There are two important things that can help you graph an equation, slope and y-intercept.

Slope
We're familiar with the word "slope" as it relates to mountains. Skiers and snowboarders refer
to "hitting the slopes." On the coordinate plane, the steepness, or slant, of a line is called the
slope. Slope is the ratio of the change in the y-value over the change in the x-value.
Carpenters and builders call this ratio the "rise over the run." Using any two points on a line,
you can calculate its slope using this formula.
Let's use these two points to calculate the slope m of this line.
A = (1,1) and B = (2,3)

Subtract the y value of point A from the y-value of point B to find the change in the y value,
which is 2. Then subtract the x value of point A from the x value of point B to find the change
in x, which is 1. The slope is 2 divided by 1, or 2.

When a line has positive slope, like this one, it rises from left to right.

WATCH OUT! Always use the same order in the numerator and denominator!

 
It doesn't really matter whether you subtract the values of point A from the values of
point B, or the values of point B from the values of point A. Try it - you'll get the same answer
both ways. But you must use the same order for both the numerator and
denominator!

You can't subtract the y value of point A from the y value of point B, and the x value of point B
from the x value of point A - your answer will be wrong.

Let's look at another line. This line has a negative slope, it falls from left to right. We can
take any two points on this line and find the slope. Let's take C (0, -1) and D (2, -5).
Using these two points, we can calculate the slope of this line. We subtract the y value of point
C from the y value of point D, and the x value of point C from the x value of point D, and
divide the first value by the second value. The slope is -2.

Y-Intercept
There's another important value associated with graphing a line on the coordinate plane. It's
called the "y intercept" and it's the y value of the point where the line intersects the y- axis.
For this line, the y-intercept is "negative 1." You can find the y-intercept by looking at the
graph and seeing which point crosses the y axis. This point will always have an x coordinate of
zero. This is another way to find the y-intercept, if you know the equation, the y-intercept is
the solution to the equation when x = 0.

Equations
Knowing how to find the slope and the y-intercept helps us to graph a line when we know its
equation, and also helps us to find the equation of a line when we have its graph. The equation
of a line can always be written in this form, where m is the slope and b is the y-intercept:

y = mx + b

Let's find the equation for this line. Pick any two points, in this diagram, A = (1, 1) and B = (2,
3).

We found that the slope m for this line is 2. By looking at the graph, we can see that it
intersects the y-axis at the point (0, –1), so –1 is the value of b, the y-intercept. Substituting
these values into the equation formula, we get:

y = 2x –1

The line shows the solution to the equation: that is, it shows all the values that satisfy the
equation. If we substitute the x and y values of a point on the line into the equation, you will
get a true statement. We'll try it with the point (2, 3).
Let's substitute x = 2 and y = 3 into the equation. We get "3 = 3", a true
statement, so this point satisfies the equation of the line.

Example:

Test:

Type the number of the line that matches the slope

or y-intercept.

slope = -5

y-intercept = -3

slope = 0
y-intercept = 5
slope = -2
Graphing Linear Equations

To graph a linear equation, we can use the slope and y-intercept.

1.Locate the y-intercept on the graph and plot the point. 
2.From this point, use the slope to find a second point and plot it. 
3.Draw the line that connects the two points. 

Let's draw the graph of this equation.

One method we could use is to find the x and y values of two points that satisfy the equation,
plot each point, and then draw a line through the points. We can start with any two x values
we like, and then find y for each x by substituting the x values into the equation. Let's start
with x = 1.

Value of x Value of y
 1 2.5

3
2

Let's plot these points and draw a line through them.

Graphing Using Slope and Y-

Intercept
There's another way to graph an equation using your knowledge of slope and y-intercept. Look
at the equation again.

We can find the slope and y-intercept of the line just by looking at the equation: m = 1/2 and
y intercept = 2.

Just by looking at these values, we already know one point on the line! The y-intercept gives
us the point where the line intersects the y-axis, so we know the coordinates of that point
are (0, 2), since the x value of any point that lies on the y axis is zero.

To find the second point, we can use the slope of the line. The slope is ½ , which gives us the
change in the y value over the change in the x value. The change in the x value, the
denominator, is 2, so we move to the right 2 units.

The change in the y value, the numerator, is positive one. We move up one unit. This gives us
the second point we need. Now we can draw the line through the points.
This is the exact same line we found using the first method. Do you see that
it's quicker and easier to use the y-intercept and the slope? You can use either
method to graph the line, depending on what information you have about the
line and its equation.

Example:
Test:

Type the number of the line that matches each equation.