Its y-axis goes from the geocenter along a line perpendicular to both the z-axis and the x-axis and according to the right-hand rule points to 90° longitude and 0° latitude.īecause the meter was originally defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole (10,000 km or ¼ of the Earth’s circumference which is approximately 40,000 km) and the kilometer is one ten-thousandth of this distance, the kilometer is a good choice for the common units of the coordinate system. It points to 0° longitude and 0° latitude. Its x-axis goes from the geocenter to the equator where it intersects with the zero meridian and is perpendicular to the z-axis. The z-axis is oriented from the center to the North Pole. Its origin (the zero point with coordinates 0, 0, 0) is at the center of mass of the Earth called the geocenter. The three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system with three axes can be used to describe the position on the Earth or above the Earth.
For example, your smartphone uses a two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system to show pictures and to track where you touched the screen to determine what do you want to do. The Cartesian coordinate system is often used in real-life situations. Analytical geometry defines and represents geometrical shapes in a numerical way, which is convenient for processing by computers. The Cartesian coordinate system allows using relatively simple algebraic equations for straight lines, planes, and 3D figures. In analytic geometry, curves and shapes can be described by algebraic equations that simplify calculations. The invention of Cartesian coordinates allowed the creation of analytic geometry, which is the study of geometry using a coordinate system. These two numbers are called the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate of the point.
The Cartesian coordinate system uniquely specifies each point in a plane by a set of numerical coordinates, which are distances to the point from two perpendicular coordinate axes (the x-axis called abscissa and the y-axis called ordinate) measured in the same units of length. It was he who introduced a rectangular coordinate system in La Géométrie, published in French in 1637 in Leiden in the Netherlands with three other his books including Discourse on the Method, which is best known by its famous quotation “Je pense, donc je suis” - “I think, therefore I am”. “I think, therefore I am.” - René DescartesĬartesian in Latin means relating to the French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes.
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