Coordinate Plane (1st Quadrant) • Topic 1 of 3

Plotting Points Using (x, y) - Both Positive

What is a Coordinate Plane?

A coordinate plane is a flat surface with two perpendicular number lines:

x-axis (horizontal) → left to right
y-axis (vertical) → up and down

The first quadrant is where both x and y are positive numbers.

Ordered Pairs (x, y):

First number = x-coordinate (horizontal position)
Second number = y-coordinate (vertical position)
Always written as (x, y)

The Origin:

Point where axes meet
Coordinates: (0, 0)

COORDINATE PLANE - FIRST QUADRANT:

    y-axis
       ↑
    10 │
     9 │
     8 │
     7 │
     6 │
     5 │
     4 │
     3 │
     2 │
     1 │
     0 └──────────────────→ x-axis
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


PLOTTING POINT (4, 6):

    Step 1: Start at origin (0,0)
    Step 2: Move RIGHT 4 spaces on x-axis
    Step 3: Move UP 6 spaces on y-axis
    Step 4: Mark the point and label it (4, 6)

    y-axis
       ↑
     6 │        • (4,6)
     5 │        ↑
     4 │        │
     3 │        │ Up 6
     2 │        │
     1 │        │
     0 └───┬───┴───→ x-axis
       0   4
           ← Right 4 →


PLOTTING MULTIPLE POINTS:

    y-axis
       ↑
     5 │  A(2,5)   C(5,4)
     4 │    •         •
     3 │  B(1,3)
     2 │    •
     1 │        D(4,1)
     0 └───┬───┬───┬───┬───→ x-axis
       0   1   2   3   4   5

    A(2,5) = Right 2, Up 5
    B(1,3) = Right 1, Up 3
    C(5,4) = Right 5, Up 4
    D(4,1) = Right 4, Up 1

Solved Examples

Worked Example

Plot point A(3, 5) on the coordinate plane.

Solution

x = 3 → move RIGHT 3 units from origin
y = 5 → move UP 5 units
Mark point and label A

Worked Example

What are the coordinates of a point that is 6 units right and 2 units up from origin?

Solution

Right 6 → x = 6
Up 2 → y = 2
Answer: (6, 2)

Worked Example

Plot and label: P(0, 4), Q(4, 0), R(2, 2)

Solution

P(0,4): x=0 (no move right), up 4 → on y-axis
Q(4,0): right 4, y=0 (no move up) → on x-axis
R(2,2): right 2, up 2

``` y 5│ 4│ P(0,4) R(2,2) 3│ • 2│ • 1│ • 0└─┬─┬─┬─┬─┬─ x 0 1 2 3 4 5 Q(4,0)• ```

Key Points

Coordinate plane has x-axis (horizontal) and y-axis (vertical)
First quadrant: both x and y are positive
Ordered pair = (x, y)
Origin = (0, 0)
"Walk to the right, then climb up"

Quick Check — 4 MCQs

Tap an option to check your answer0 / 4

Q1.A point is written as the ordered pair:

Explanation: $(x,y)$.

Q2.The $x$-coordinate tells how far to move:

Explanation: Right.

Q3.The $y$-coordinate tells how far to move:

Explanation: Up.

Q4.The origin has coordinates:

Explanation: $(0,0)$.

Practice more MCQs → 📝 Assignment · 35 marks