X-Coordinate

X-Coordinate


Position of a point on a number line.


The first element in an ordered pair of the coordinates of a point, which represents the position on the horizontal axis of the Cartesian coordinate system

Examples

In the diagram below, the position of the point indicated by the blue arrow is \(700\).


In this Cartesian plane, the x-coordinate of point \(A\) is 6.

Educational Note

In a Cartesian plane in two-dimensional geometric space, the horizontal axis is called the x-axis.

Etymological Note

From the Latin abscissus meaning “cut-off line” It is said that Isaac Newton used the term “x-coordinate” in 1686 and Blaise Pascal used the term “y-coordinate” in the same period. Some authors attribute the introduction of the terms “x-coordinate” and “y-coordinate” to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) in 1692.

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