INTRODUCTION

A coordinate system is a set of values and points that

allow to unambiguously define the position of any point of a
Euclidean space or more generally differentiable manifold.

In physics, orthogonal coordinate systems are usually used.

A reference system is given by a reference point and a
coordinate system. In Newtonian mechanics, it is employed
reference systems characterized by a point called
origin and a set of axes define some coordinates.

A Cartesian coordinate system is defined by two or three axes.

orthogonal and equally scaled, depending on whether it is a system
two-dimensional or three-dimensional. The value of each one of the
The coordinates of a point (A) are equal to the orthogonal projection of
position vector of that point () on a given axis.

Each of the axes is defined by a direction vector and by the

origin of coordinates. For example, the x-axis is defined by the
origin of coordinates (O) and a unit vector () .
 DEVELOPMENT

COORDINATE SYSTEMS

A rectangular coordinate system is defined in the plane as the

intersection of two numerical lines, mutually perpendicular. One
horizontal and another vertical. Both lines intersect at a point, called
origin (o). The horizontal line is called the axis of the abscissas or of the
x-axis (x), and the vertical, y-axis or ordinate axis (y).

The Cartesian plane aims to describe the position of

points, which are represented by their coordinates or pairs
ordered.

The coordinates are formed by associating a value of the 'X' axis and one
of the 'Y', respectively, this indicates that a point can be located
in the Cartesian plane based on its coordinates, which
represents as:

P (x, y).

Three different orthogonal coordinate systems are shown.

common use in electromagnetism studies.

The transformation matrices between the different systems of

coordinates satisfy all algebraic properties for
orthonormal transformations, namely:
 The direct transformation matrix is simply the
transpose of the inverse transformation matrix.

The determinant of the transformation matrix is unitary.

Rectangular Coordinates

In the rectangular coordinate system, also called

Cartesian coordinates in honor of its inventor, the mathematician
French René Descartes, the position of a point is found
determined by three independent numbers that define the
distances to the so-called coordinate planes.

In Figure 4, the three coordinate planes can be observed that

right angles to each other and whose intersections are the so-called
coordinate axes.

The perpendicular distances measured to the coordinate planes

they constitute the coordinates of the given point's position.

Figure 4. Cartesian coordinate system.

A vector in Cartesian coordinates can be noted using the
projections of the vector onto the coordinate axes and a set of
three direction vectors that point in the direction of these axes.

In Figure 5, the unit direction vectors of the

rectangular coordinate system.

Figure 5. Unit vectors of the Cartesian coordinate system.

According to the properties of the scalar product, a vector

anyone is noticeable in the Cartesian coordinate system as:

Where, they are the projections of vector A on the axes

coordinates x, y, z respectively and they are the vectors

unitary directors of the Cartesian coordinate system.

The position vector of any point in Cartesian coordinates by

as much is given by:
 Equation 9 Position vector in Cartesian coordinates.

The vector products of the direction vectors of the system of

Cartesian coordinates follow a rotation rule, which
illustrate in Equation 10.

Equation 10 Rotation in the vector products of the system

cartesian.

Because analytical geometry allows to resolve in form

algebraic and analytical geometric problems, it is necessary to establish
a relationship between basic geometric concepts (point, line,
angle, etc) and the concept of the variable.
This relationship between algebra and geometry is formed by assigning
numbers or variables to the points. In this way, it is established
establish a numerical scale on the line, which we will call in
forward coordinate axis

Each point in the plane is represented by an uppercase letter.

accompanied by a pair (x,y), where x is the value of the abscissa
yes the value of the ordinate. For example P(x,y)
Now let's review the location of points on the plane, for that enter
apoints, graphs and functions
There, select the section of interpretation and representation of points.

Let us start our analytical study by establishing a method to

find the distance between two points on the Cartesian plane
DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS

To find out the distance between two points on the plane

coordinate, let's consider the points P1 (X1, Y1) and P2 (X2, Y2). As
is shown in the figure. It is possible to draw a triangle P1QP2 whose
a right angle is in Q such that P1P2 is the hypotenuse of
such triangle.
Using the Pythagorean theorem
we can calculate the length of
segment P1P2 in the following way.
EXAMPLE

Find the distance between points A (-3,2) and B (2,1)

In addition to establishing the distance between two points, we can

know the midpoint of that distance, to learn more click
 CONCLUSION

At the end of this project, I will be able to use a coordinate system.

rectangular to identify points on a plane and you will be able to represent
graphically a linear equation in two variables. Also, given
any two points, you will be able to determine the distance between them and the
midpoint between them.

I learned that there is a 'one-to-one' correspondence between the

real numbers and the points of a line. For that reason, it is sometimes
It is convenient to talk about the number and its corresponding point in the

number line as if they were the same thing.