The x-coordinate represents the horizontal shift, starting from the origin, and the y-coordinate represents the vertical shift.
Quadrant III
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. Let's take a look at the given point that we want graph and label on a coordinate plane.
( -4, -3)
To graph this point we should first move 4 units in the negative horizontal direction starting from the origin. Notice that we move in the negative direction because the coordinate is a negative number. Then we should move 3 units in the negative vertical direction. Let's do it!
To determine in which quadrant the point is located, we will count counter-clockwise starting from the upper-right.
We can see that the given point lies in Quadrant III.
Extra
Visualizing Quadrants
To help you visualize each of the different quadrants, let's take a look at the diagram.
Therefore, we are able to determine in which quadrant a point is located only by looking at the signs of coordinates of this point.
