Cartesian coordinates

British  

plural noun

1. a system of representing points in space in terms of their distance from a given origin measured along a set of mutually perpendicular axes. Written ( x,y,z ) with reference to three axes

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Example Sentences

It was on one such morning—as the story goes—while dreamily watching the path of a fly flitting around on the ceiling, that he came up with the xy plane of Cartesian coordinates.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 7, 2019

To convert a point from spherical coordinates to Cartesian coordinates, use equations x = ρ sin φ cos θ, y = ρ sin φ sin θ, and z = ρ cos φ.

From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016

When the initial points and terminal points of vectors are given in Cartesian coordinates, computations become straightforward.

From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016

For the following exercises, convert the given polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates.

From Textbooks • Feb. 13, 2015

Like Pythagoras, Descartes was a mathematician-philosopher; perhaps his most lasting legacy was a mathematical invention—what we now call Cartesian coordinates.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife