In an ordered pair, the x-coordinate comes first and the y-coordinate comes second.
Practice makes perfect
In an ( x, y) ordered pair, the first number tells us the x-coordinate of the point and the second number tells us the y-coordinate of the point. We want to graph D( -1.5, 2.5), so we first find -1.5 on the x-axis and its corresponding vertical line. The x-coordinate -1.5 tells us to move 1.5 units to the left of the origin — the negative horizontal direction.
Next, we find 2.5 on the y-axis and follow the corresponding horizontal line until it collides with the line from our x-coordinate. The y-coordinate 2.5 tells us to move 2.5 units up from the origin — the positive vertical direction.
The point D( -1.5, 2.5) lies on the point at which these two lines intersect.
