Exercise 3.1

Describing Coordinates

Q1. How will you describe the position of a table lamp on your study table to another person?

Solution:
Describing the position of a table lamp on your study table to another person (using ideas from coordinate geometry):

  1. First, consider the table’s surface as a plane. Imagine choosing one corner of the table as the origin (0, 0).
  2. The two edges meeting at that corner represent the x-axis (horizontal edge) and the y-axis (vertical edge).
  3. Measure how far the lamp is from the origin along each edge:
    For example, “The lamp is placed 30 cm from the left edge (x-axis) and 20 cm from the front edge (y-axis) of the table.”
  4. Thus, the position of the lamp can be described as the point (30, 20) on the table, where 30 cm is the distance along the x-axis and 20 cm is the distance along the y-axis from the origin.

City Plan

A city has two main roads which cross each other at the centre of the city. These two roads are along the North-South direction and East-West direction.
All the other streets of the city run parallel to these roads and are 200 m apart. There are 5 streets in each direction. Using 1cm = 200 m, draw a model of the city on your notebook. Represent the roads/streets by single lines.
There are many cross- streets in your model. A particular cross-street is made by two streets, one running in the North - South direction and another in the East - West direction. Each cross street is referred to in the following manner : If the 2nd street running in the North - South direction and 5th in the East - West direction meet at some crossing, then we will call this cross-street (2, 5). Using this convention, find:

  1. how many cross - streets can be referred to as (4, 3).
  2. how many cross - streets can be referred to as (3, 4).

Solution:

City Plan
Fig-1: Model of the city

As in the Model of the city plan in Fig-1, It is evident that

  1. There is one and only one cross - streets which can be referred to as (4, 3)
  2. There is one and only one cross - streets can be referred to as (3, 4).

Exercise 3.2

Cartesian Plane

Write the answer of each of the following questions:

  1. What is the name of horizontal and the vertical lines drawn to determine the position of any point in the Cartesian plane?
  2. What is the name of each part of the plane formed by these two lines?
  3. Write the name of the point where these two lines intersect.

Solution:

  1. \(x\)-Axis and \(y\)-Axis
  2. Quadrants
  3. Origin

Coordinates

See Fig.3.14, and write the following:

  1. The coordinates of B.
  2. The coordinates of C.
  3. The point identified by the coordinates (–3, –5).
  4. The point identified by the coordinates (2, – 4).
  5. The abscissa of the point D.
  6. The ordinate of the point H.
  7. The coordinates of the point L.
  8. The coordinates of the point M.

Coordinates
Fig-3.14

Solution:

  1. The coordinates of B.\(\Rightarrow\)(-5,2)
  2. The coordinates of C.\(\Rightarrow\)(5,-5)
  3. The point identified by the coordinates (–3, –5).\(\Rightarrow\)E
  4. The point identified by the coordinates (2, – 4).\(\Rightarrow\)G
  5. The abscissa of the point D.\(\Rightarrow\)6
  6. The ordinate of the point H.\(\Rightarrow\)-3
  7. The coordinates of the point L.\(\Rightarrow\)(0,5)
  8. The coordinates of the point M.\(\Rightarrow\)(-3,0)

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    Frequently Asked Questions

    Coordinate geometry is the study of geometric points, lines, and shapes using the Cartesian coordinate system to represent them with numerical coordinates.

    The Cartesian system allows us to precisely locate and describe points in a plane, making it easier to solve geometric problems using algebra and graphs.

    Abscissa is the x-coordinate (horizontal value) and ordinate is the y-coordinate (vertical value) of a point on the Cartesian plane.

    To plot (x, y), start at the origin, move x units along the x-axis, then y units up or down parallel to the y-axis.

    The origin is the point (0, 0) where the x-axis and y-axis intersect; it is the reference for locating all other points.

    Axes are the two perpendicular reference lines, x-axis (horizontal) and y-axis (vertical), used to define coordinates of points.

    Coordinates are an ordered pair of numbers (x, y) that specify the position of a point in the coordinate plane.

    Coordinate geometry helps in fields like navigation, engineering designs, computer graphics, mapping, and physics by locating and analyzing positions.

    The plane is divided into four quadrants, each representing different signs (+/-) for x and y, helping to identify position of points.

    Check the signs of x and y: both positive (I), x negative & y positive (II), both negative (III), x positive & y negative (IV).

    Questions include plotting points, interpreting coordinates, working with axes, identifying quadrants, and simple geometric applications.

    Solutions are available in the NCERT textbook and on various educational websites offering chapter-wise answers and explanations.

    Yes, if the x-coordinate or y-coordinate of a point is zero, it lies on either the y-axis or x-axis respectively.

    Always write the x-coordinate first, then the y-coordinate, separated by a comma, as (x, y).

    Signs indicate the direction from the origin on the axes: positive means right or up, negative means left or down.

    COORDINATE GEOMETRY – Learning Resources

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