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Lesson 3. 1 Rectangular Coordinate System

Rene Descartes developed the rectangular coordinate system to precisely describe the location of a fly on his ceiling. He drew perpendicular horizontal and vertical number lines intersecting at the origin. Points on the plane are located using ordered pairs (x,y) where x is the horizontal distance and y is the vertical distance from the origin. The plane is divided into four quadrants based on whether x and y values are positive or negative.

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Lyka Fausto
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39 views21 pages

Lesson 3. 1 Rectangular Coordinate System

Rene Descartes developed the rectangular coordinate system to precisely describe the location of a fly on his ceiling. He drew perpendicular horizontal and vertical number lines intersecting at the origin. Points on the plane are located using ordered pairs (x,y) where x is the horizontal distance and y is the vertical distance from the origin. The plane is divided into four quadrants based on whether x and y values are positive or negative.

Uploaded by

Lyka Fausto
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Chapter 3

Lesson 1
The Rectangular Coordinate System
Rene Descartes
A very famous mathematician, Rene Descartes lay in bed one night. As he
lay there, he looked up at the ceiling in his bedroom. He noticed a fly was
asleep on the ceiling. Descartes, being a mathematician wondered if he could
figure out a way of stating where exactly the fly was on the ceiling. Obviously
it has to be a precise description he thought. I can’t really say, “To the left” or
“Near the right “or “In the middle”.
When Descartes looked up at his ceiling,
this is what he saw. A fly resting there. He
began to think about how he might be able
to describe the exact position of the fly.
Descartes decided that if he drew two
lines at right angles to each other,
then he might be able to come up
with a way of describing the exact
position of the fly.
Descartes decided to place numbers on
the bottom (horizontal) row and on the
side (vertical) row. He could now state
accurately where exactly the fly was on
the ceiling.

But there was a problem, should he


give the vertical number of tiles
followed by horizontal? i.e. go up 5
squares and move across 4 squares, or
should he give the horizontal number
first, then the vertical? i.e. go across 4
squares then move up 5?
He decided to give the
HORIZONTAL NUMBER FIRST and
THE VERTICAL NUMBER SECOND.
To help people remember this he called the
horizontal line X and the vertical line Y
(Because X comes before Y in the alphabet)

So, in this diagram, the position of the fly


can be found by moving
4 units across, then 5 units up.
These are known as X, Y values and are
written like this

Position of fly = (4, 5)

X value , Y value
(First) (Second)

In honour of Rene Descartes, the graph showing the coordinates of the fly is
known as the Cartesian Plane (or X Y Plane).
The Coordinate/Cartesian
Plane
5 (1, 5)

(- 4, 2)

-5 5
(7, - 1)
(- 2, - 2)
-5
The coordinate plane is
divided by two number lines.
We have vertical and
horizontal number lines.
The two number lines have special names.

The horizontal number


line is called the x-axis .
-10 -5 0 5 10

The vertical
number line
-5 is called the
y-axis.
The coordinate plane is filled
with points . . .
. . . infinitely many points.

And somewhere among


all those points is the
point we call the origin.
The origin is
the point where
5
the two number
lines meet.
-10 -5 0 5 10

-5
y
Coordinates are
always written in 5
(x, y )
parentheses, with
the x-value first.
x
-10 -5 0 5 10

Coordinates written
in parentheses are -5
called an ordered
pair.
Consider the point So the 4 in (4, -2)
which has says we need to move
5
coordinates, (4, -2). 4 units to the right.

-10 -5 0 5 10

The first number


tells you how far Remember to start
-5
to move along at the origin!
the x-axis.
The second number The –2 in (4, -2)
tells you how far to 5
tells you to
move up or down. move down two
units.

-10 -5 0 5 10

(4, - 2)
-5
In Quadrant II, x-values are In Quadrant I, all values
negative, while y-values are are positive.
positive.

II 5
I
The two number lines
divide the plane into We call the regions
four regions. quadrants.

-10 -5 0 5 10

III Quadrants are labeled IV


with Roman -5Numerals.
In Quadrant IV, x-values
In Quadrant III, x- and y-
are positive and y-values
values are both negative.
are negative.
Give the coordinates of each point:

(2, 3)
(- 5,1)

(- 3, - 2) (2, - 4)
Which quadrant is each point in?

1. (8,–7)

2. (4,0)

3. (–4,–5)

4. (0,–9)

5. (7,12)
Plotting Points in a Rectangular
Coordinate System

Quadrant 11 Quadrant 1
Points graphed in a
(-, +) (+, +) rectangular coordinate
system are defined by
two numbers as an
(-, -) (+, -) ordered pair (x , y).
x as abscissa and y as
Quadrant 111 Quadrant 1v ordinate.
Plotting points in a Rectangular
Coordinate System
Plot the
points
a). (4, 5) b). (-4, -5)

c). (-1, 3) d). (3, -1)

e). (-2, 0) f). (0,0)

1 7
g ).( , − )
2 3

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