Question

How would you plot the point `(-4,0)` on the cartesian plane?

Answer 1

Cartesian Plotting involves 2 things:

1. Horizontal Movements Left or Right
2. Vertical Movements Up or Down

For a coordinate `(x,y)`, x is the horizontal movement and y is the vertical movement.

Horizontal Movements
If x is positive, we move right. If x is negative, we move left.

Vertical Movements
If y is positive, we move up. If y is negative, we move down.

Always start at `(0,0)` where the x and y axis cross. Let's take the point `-4,0)`

Since -4 is negative, we move left 4 units.
Since 0 is neither greater or less than 0 we do not move up or down.

Therefore, we are left with are point being 4 units directly left of the origin.

Relative Coordinates