What is the coordinate system?
A coordinate system, or more precisely, a Cartesian coordinate system, is a method to precisely present the position of points, whether on a plane (two-dimensional) or in three-dimensional space. In this chapter, we will focus on a coordinate system on a plane, that is, a system made up of two axes (straight lines) that are perpendicular to each other (forming a 90-degree angle between them).
To facilitate the understanding of the material, let's look at the following drawing, which gives an example of a two-dimensional coordinate system:
![coordinate system image](/_ipx/f_png,s_500x500/https://cdn.tutorela.com/images/imagen_de_sistema_de_coordenadas.width-500.png)
As mentioned, as can be seen in the drawing, it is customary to identify the horizontal axis with and the vertical axis with .
The intersection point between the two axes is called the origin and is usually identified with the letter .
Along the horizontal axis, the numbers increase to the right of the origin and decrease to the left of the origin.
Along the vertical axis, the numbers increase upwards in relation to the origin and decrease downwards in relation to the origin.