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The Cartesian plane
The Cartesian plane
The Cartesian plane or number plane is a way to visually describe location on a grid.
Axes
Axes
The Cartesian plane consists of a horizontal axis or x-axis, and a vertical axis or y-axis.
Origin
Origin
The point where the two axes intersect is the origin.
Its coordinates are (0, 0).
Quadrants
Quadrants
The number plane is divided into four quadrants, labelled anti-clockwise from top right.
In quadrant 1 both the x and y coordinates are +.
In quadrant 2 the x coordinate is - and the y +.
In quadrant 3 both the x and y coordinate are -.
In quadrant 4 the x coordinate is + and the y -.
Coordinates
Coordinates
We can specify a point on the number plane by writing its x- and y-coordinates, e.g. (1, 3).
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