The Cartesian Coordinate System is used to locate a point in space by giving its relative distance from perpendicular intersecting lines (Encyclopedia.com). René Descartes was the inventor of the Cartesian coordinate system with the help of Pierre de Fermat. Descartes used the letters from the beginning of alphabet (constants were identified by a, b, c and so forth) and the letters at the end of the alphabet (x, y, z) were used for variables. These were expressed on the line as equations. The system itself; first coordinate value (x-coordinate) describes the horizontal axis (x-axis) and the 2nd coordinate value (y-coordinate) locates the point of the vertical axis (y-axis). The coordinating system helps duplicate geometric figures (i.e. triangle has coordinates of A (3,2), B (4,5), and C (-2,4) and with these coordinates, you are able to duplicate another.
