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📍 Coordinates in All Four Quadrants

Take the coordinate grid past zero. Plot and read points with negative x- and y-values, and know which quadrant any point lives in just from its signs.

lesson

~15 min

to learn

🔢 Math

subject

Ages 6–12

level

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What you’ll learn

Coordinates (age 11+)Plot and read coordinates in all four quadrants using positive and negative values, and identify a point's quadrant from the signs of its coordinates.The coordinate plane is built from a horizontal x-axis and vertical y-axis meeting at the origin (0, 0). A point is an ordered pair (x, y): read x across first, then y up or down. Negative values move left (x) or down (y), so points can lie in any of four quadrants, numbered anticlockwise from the top right. Each quadrant has a signature sign pattern — first (+, +), second (−, +), third (−, −), fourth (+, −) — so the signs alone reveal where a point sits.

Questions this course answers

In the ordered pair (x, y), what does the first number tell you?

The first number, x, is the horizontal position — how far across.

Which point is 3 to the left and 2 down from the origin?

Left means negative x, down means negative y: (−3, −2).

A point has coordinates (−4, 3). Which quadrant is it in?

(−, +) is the top-left region, the second quadrant.

What are the coordinates of the origin, where the axes cross?

The origin is where both x and y are zero: (0, 0).

Which quadrant contains points where both x and y are positive?

The first quadrant (top right) has positive x and positive y.

The point (5, −2) lies in which quadrant?

(+, −) is the bottom-right region, the fourth quadrant.

Grounded in trusted sources

BBC Bitesize — Maths (Key Stage 3)
Khan Academy — The coordinate plane
NRICH (University of Cambridge)
Britannica

Every Wunder lesson is built from real, reputable sources — never invented.

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