What are Coordinate Axes?
In any plane, we need a certain number of lines to represent the position of a point in the plane. These lines are called coordinate axes. For example, we need 2 coordinate axes to represent a point in the 2D plane. The plane that is formed by the intersection of these axes is called the Cartesian plane.
History of Coordinate Axes
Rene Descartes is credited for the discovery of the coordinate axes as well as the Cartesian coordinate system. In ancient times, there was no overlapping of algebra and geometry but Rene showed the world that various concepts of algebra and geometry can be studied with the help of each other. Rene came up with the idea of coordinate axes when he observed a fly crawling in a crisscross manner across the beams of his ceiling.
Thus world was now introduced to a fusion of algebra and geometry. The development of coordinate geometry also led to the development of calculus in future and the concept of 2D coordinate axes further laid the foundation for development of vector spaces.
Coordinate Axes in Coordinate Geometry
Coordinate Axes are the fundamental of the concept in Coordinate Geometry, which is the amalgamation of two branches of mathematics, i.e., algebra and geometry. The basic idea of coordinate geometry is to study the properties of various figures in mathematics i.e., points, lines, curves, etc.
Thus, Coordinate Axes form the basis of coordinate geometry which is the branch of mathematics dealing with the plotting of points, lines, and curves on the coordinate axes system or the Euclidean plane. In this article, we will learn about the Coordinate Axes in detail.
Table of Content
- What are Coordinate Axes?
- Coordinate Axes in Two Dimension
- Coordinate Axes in Polar Coordinate System
- Coordinate Axes in Three Dimensions
- Coordinate Axes in Other Coordinate Systems