Location, Location, Location

Dear Jeffrey, 

How are we supposed to know which number to use first when they give us coordinates? If they give you (5,7), are you supposed to go over 5 and up 7, or over 7 and up 5? Is it always the same? How is anyone supposed to know, anyway? 

I'm baffled, and I don't have time for this. 

Signed,

Ethel Beavers

Ethel, I hope you haven't given up, because you will be relieved to know that it's not so bad. First off, it helps if you can remember that the coordinates are always written in the form of (x,y). You can just remember this because they are in the order that x and y are in the alphabet.

The x-axis is the line that is horizontal, or side-to-side. You can remember this because "x goes across" and an x is a cross.

You can remember that the y-axis goes up and down. I always teach that y goes up because of "Wise up, fool!", which sounds exactly like y's up, fool! True story: I had a student who told me years after being in my class that he still said "Wise up, fool" in his head every time he had to use a coordinate plane. So a coordinate plane looks like this:

See that (0,0) in the corner? Those are the coordinates for that spot. This is also called the Point of Origin. I always think the coordinates for the point of origin look like an owl.

See?

Okay, how about now? Now do you see it?

Anyway, once you know those facts, you are ready to find any coordinates on the plane. For today, we're only going to focus on the positive numbers.

For (7,9), you would simply slide over 7, and then move up 9. You can also think about it like moving a ladder. You have to move the ladder before you can climb it. If you try to climb it and then move it, you're going to have a pretty rough time.

Then you can figure out how to find other coordinates like (0,7) by moving over zero spaces and up 7, and then (14,0) by sliding over 14 spots and then moving up no spots.

I hope this clears things up, and that you feel like you are a little wiser than before. Don't worry, we'll get into the negative numbers another time. But for now, I hope you have an easier time finding your spots when given two coordinate numbers.