Coordinate Plane: That Point Is Located Where?

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

If you said "4," you are absolutely correct!

This lesson covers 4 parts of the coordinate plane, called quadrants (see where the quad part comes in?). You will learn where each quadrant is located, and practice plotting points in each.

• If you plot the point (-2, -2) on the coordinate plane, where is it located?
• Is it in negative land because both numbers are negative?

• How about (-2, +2)?
• Is it in negative positive land?

Get started on this lesson to learn the correct name of locations (called quadrants) on a graph!

You have already learned the basics of the coordinate plane. First, review what you already know:

• what the coordinate plane looks like
• origin: point (0,0) in the center
• x-axis: runs horizontal from side to side
• y-axis: runs vertical up and down

If you are not familiar with these items, please review the first lesson in our Coordinate Plane series, found in the right-hand sidebar under Related Lessons, before trying this one.

This lesson reminds us how to plot points on a graph, and also talks about something called quadrants. Remember, quad means four. Therefore, the term quadrant tells us that a coordinate plane has four quadrants.

Here is the numbering of the quadrants in a coordinate plane:

Quadrants will always be numbered this way from 1-4. Roman numerals are often used to number quadrants:

• I = 1
• II = 2
• III = 3
• IV = 4

Please take a minute to copy an example of the coordinate plane and quadrants in your math notebook now.

Next, watch this Coordinate Plane - Basics ( GMAT / GRE / CAT / Bank PO / SSC CGL) video by DontMemorise.com to pull all of this information together:

That video reminded you about the coordinate plane, with its x-axis and y-axis, and reminds you how to plot points. The video also showed how points fall into specific quadrants based on where they are on the graph.

Take a minute to write the following information down on the graph you drew on your paper:

• Quadrant I: (positive x, positive y)
• Quadrant II: (negative x, positive y)
• Quadrant III: (negative x, negative y)
• Quadrant IV: (positive x, negative y)

After you have written down the information, really think about what it means. As long as you can remember where each quadrant is on the coordinate plane, you can immediately say what quadrant a point falls into and graph it.

Let's move on to some practice problems to work on plotting points as well as naming quadrants. Head to the Got It? section for this practice.