Luttrell 2012
80
Name: ______________________
Date: _____
5g – Cartesian Coordinate Plane
Rene Descartes came up with a way to systematize giving directions. He took two real number
lines and had them intersecting at zero to form perpendicular angles. At each integer, you can
draw a vertical or horizontal line. After a while you will have formed a grid, with each line
intersecting at integer coordinates (lattice points). The horizontal real number line is commonly
referred to as the
x
-axis and the vertical number line is called the
y
-axis. The point (
x
,
y
) can be
found by moving left/right along the
x
-axis and then from that new point, moving up/down y-
spaces. For e
x
ample the ordered pair (2,-1) would be found by starting at the origin (0,0) and
moving right 2 spaces and down 1 space.
There are other coordinates, such as polar coordinates, but those are for a later course.
1. Draw a coordinate system, label the integers from -10 to 10 on both a
x
es.
2. Draw a dot and label the points R(-2, 4), E(1, 5), S(4, -3) and T(-7,-2).
3. Draw a coordinate system, label the integers from -10 to 10 on both a
x
es.
4. Label the points A(-2,4), B(-1, 2), and C(3, -6). Connect the dots. What does figure does it
look like? How could you tell that it really is that shape?
