Coordinate Planes

  Today we looked at transformations on grids. We discovered that some of us need a little refresher on labeling points on a graph or grid. Let's review:

 A coordinate plane is an important tool for working with these equations. It is formed by a horizontal number line, called the x-axis, and a vertical number line, called the y-axis. The two axes intersect at a point called the origin. You can locate any point on the coordinate plane by an ordered pair of numbers (x,y), called the coordinates. You can determine where to plot a point on a graph by how far along and how far up it is:

The coordinate plane is divided in 4 quadrants.

 Check out the video on the basics of plotting points.

 This video goes into a little more depth on graphing points.

Need a little practice? Try a game.

coordinates interactive game

hit the coordinate

coordinate graphing game