The x-coordinate represents the horizontal shift, starting from the origin, and the y-coordinate represents the vertical shift.
Practice makes perfect
An ( x, y) ordered pair is plotted in a coordinate plane by finding the x-coordinate on the horizontal axis and the y-coordinate on the vertical axis. For the given point, ( 3, - 1), this means tracing three units in the positive horizontal direction, then one unit in the negative vertical direction.
