Introduction to Coordinate Systems

Objective: When done with this lesson, you will be able to create and use basic coordinate systems to identify locations of objects.

Approximate completion time: 3 hours

"Where are you?" "Where are you going?" "How will you know when you get there?"

Do you notice that each of the pictures above help answer those questions?

INVESTIGATE:

Take a look at some different ways people have devised to locate objects and display information.
Click on each link provided and think about how each system works.
(These links will have some complicated information in them. Just look at the type of graphs they used.)

Rectangular Plots	Polar Plots	Contour Plots	Crazy Plots
Earthquakes Earthquakes2 Waterfalls Fishing Texas 3D POV Space Shuttle	Polar graph of wind (the graph is polar, not the wind) Antenae efficiency Space shuttle	Color variant contour plots Interesting mappings of the brain Gray scale contours gallery of contour plots gallery2 of contour plots	Triangle graphs Smith Chart Scatterplot Vector plot

Another fun and interesting link: Finite Element Modeling

 

STUDY:

We will study and use the 2-dimensional coordinate systems called "The Cartesian Plane" and "The Polar Plane". Use the links and tutorials to learn about using these systems. (Really study the Cartesian Plane system as we will use it quite often. The Polar Plane is useful but will not be our main focus.)

Learningwave.com. Check out the link at the bottom of that page and the next for great resources.
(Also, click on the purple roman numerals in the graph on that page.)

mathsteacher.com. Here you'll find more helps and practice.

purplemath.com. Here you'll find even more practices and some extra bits on quadrants.

 

QUICK TEST: Do you think you understand the coordinate system called the "Cartesian Plane"?
If so, try to get 10 correct in a row on this self-test.

Flashback: Have you ever played the game "Battleship"? Did you know that game uses a modified Cartesian system? (Many phone books use a similar coordinate system).

 

Teacher's choice. Here's a basic introduction to polar graphing.

Univie.ac. Here you'll find a great applet for polar graphing.
Note that the applet opens in a new window behind the other.
Be sure to click on "coordinate lines" in the applet and move the point P around.