From the origin, each axis is further divided into equal units: increasing, positive numbers to the right on the x-axis and up the y-axis decreasing, negative numbers to the left on the x-axis and down the y-axis. It is known as the origin or point \left(0,0\right). The center of the plane is the point at which the two axes cross. Each section is called a quadrant the quadrants are numbered counterclockwise as shown in the figure below. Perpendicular to each other, the axes divide the plane into four sections. The Cartesian coordinate system, also called the rectangular coordinate system, is based on a two-dimensional plane consisting of the x-axis and the y-axis. Descartes named the horizontal axis the x-axis and the vertical axis the y-axis. While there is evidence that ideas similar to Descartes’ grid system existed centuries earlier, it was Descartes who introduced the components that comprise the Cartesian coordinate system, a grid system having perpendicular axes. Further, by dividing each axis into equal unit lengths, Descartes saw that it was possible to locate any object in a two-dimensional plane using just two numbers-the displacement from the horizontal axis and the displacement from the vertical axis. ![]() He viewed the perpendicular lines as horizontal and vertical axes. According to the story, Descartes was staring at a fly crawling on the ceiling when he realized that he could describe the fly’s location in relation to the perpendicular lines formed by the adjacent walls of his room. ![]() Plot points on the Cartesian coordinate plane.Īn old story describes how seventeenth-century philosopher/mathematician René Descartes invented the system that has become the foundation of algebra while sick in bed.Define the components of the Cartesian coordinate system.
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