Positions on Coordinate Grids
Maths: Year 5 & 6 National Curriculum, topic 8.6.1
Coordinates
Co-ordinates are used to plot the position of points on a graph.
Coordinates
- Each point has an x coordinate and a y coordinate.
- The x coordinate tells you how far across you go on a coordinate grid.
- The y coordinate tells you how far up or down you go on a coordinate grid.
x before y
- The x co-ordinate is always given before the y co-ordinate.
- E.g. the coordinate (2, 1) has an x coordinate of 2 and a y coordinate of 1.
Which comes first?
- You can remember which coordinate comes first using a saying: 'along the corridor, up the stairs'.
- This saying means you go across first (the x coordinate is the first coordinate) and then up or down (the y coordinate is the second coordinate).
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Point (2,1)
- The point (2,1) has x-coordinate 2 and y-coordinate 1.
- This means the coordinate is 2 along and 1 up.
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Point (−2,−1)
- The point (−2,−1) has x-coordinate −2 and y-coordinate −1.
(−2,−1)
- The coordinate (−2,−1) means the coordinate is 2 along (in the negative direction) and 1 down (because it is −1).
Test yourself on Positions on Coordinate Grids
What are the coordinates of point A?
What are the coordinates of point B?
What are the coordinates of point C?
What are the coordinates of point D?
What are the coordinates of point E?