Ordered Pairs on the Coordinate Plane

Luis has a new robot, except he has one problem. He needs to understand how his robot moves to different places from its starting location on a specially programmed map. To do this, he will learn about ordered pairs on the coordinate plane. You may have seen graphs like this before, with an X and Y axis, called a coordinate plane. In this graph, both the X axis and the Y axis act like number lines, and intersect at the zero. Let's construct a new type of coordinate plane step by step. Zero is what we call the origin point of the coordinate plane, which is the central point. On the X axis, going to the right are positive values, and going to the left are negative values. On the Y axis, going upwards are the positive values, and going downwards are the negative values. You might notice that the X axis and the Y axis intersection divides the graph into four. These are known as quadrants. Starting from the top right quadrant, and going counter-clockwise we have quadrant one, quadrant two, quadrant three, and quadrant four. Now let's look at the signs for each quadrant. Quadrant one has positive X and Y values. Quadrant two has negative X and positive Y values. Quadrant three has negative X and Y values. Quadrant four has positive X and negative Y values. The values in each ordered pairs tell us where to plot them and in which quadrant. An ordered pair is a pair of numbers that represent a point on the coordinate plane. The first value tells us the position along the X axis, and the second value tells us the position along the Y axis. The ordered pair for the origin is always zero, zero. Luis' robot is programmed with the ordered pair of three, four, so we need to find where it will end up. Both the X value and the Y value are positive. This means the robot is in quadrant one, because you will go right on the X axis, and up on the Y axis. Let's look at another example. This time, Luis' robot is programmed to end up at negative two, six. Which quadrant is the robot in? Since the X value is negative, and the Y value is positive, the robot is in quadrant two. Luis' robot is programmed one final time, and will end up at the ordered pair three, negative three. Which quadrant is the robot in? Since the X value is positive, and the Y value is negative, the robot is in quadrant four. Luis finally understands the way his robot is programmed to move, so let's summarize! In summary, a coordinate plane has four quadrants. The signs of the values in an ordered pair indicate which quadrant the point is located in. Quadrant one has positive X and Y values. Quadrant two has negative X and positive Y values. Quadrant three has negative X and Y values. Quadrant four has positive X and negative Y values. Well, Luis now understands his robots map, but it sure would help if he remembered to charge it first!