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 shows the x-coordinate and the second number shows the y-coordinate.
x-coordinate
To graph ( 0, - 5), we first need to find 0 on the x-axis. Notice the x-coordinate 0 tells us to stay on the x-axis.
We know the point will lie on the x-axis.
y-coordinate
Next, we find - 5 on the y-axis. Therefore, to find the point
( 0, - 5), we already know that we need to stay on the x-axis and move five units in the negative vertical direction.
