Astronomy
Complete your study guide and Newton's law lab.
Foundation of Algebra
Coordinate graphing sounds very dramatic but it is actually just a visual method for showing relationships between numbers. The relationships are shown on a
coordinate grid. A coordinate grid has two perpendicular lines, or
axes, labeled like number lines. The
horizontal axis is called the
x-axis. The
vertical axis is called the
y-axis. The point where the
x-axis and
y-axis intersect is called the
origin.
The numbers on a coordinate grid are used to locate points. Each point can be identified by an
ordered pair of numbers; that is, a number on the
x-axis called an
x-coordinate, and a number on the
y-axis called a
y-coordinate. Ordered pairs are written in parentheses (
x-coordinate,
y-coordinate). The origin is located at (0,0). Note that there is no space after the comma.
The location of (2,5) is shown on the coordinate grid below. The
x-coordinate is 2. The
y-coordinate is 5. To locate (2,5), move 2 units to the right on the
x-axis and 5 units up on the
y-axis.
The order in which you write
x- and
y-coordinates in an ordered pair is very important. The
x-coordinate always comes first, followed by the
y-coordinate. As you can see in the coordinate grid below, the ordered pairs (3,4) and (4,3) refer to two different points!
https://www.eduplace.com/math/mathsteps/4/c/index.html