Coordinate system
In geometry, a coordinate system is a system which uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of a point or other geometric element on a manifold such as Euclidean space.
(TO DO: expand, organize, cross-reference, illustrate.)
Description
The order of the coordinates is significant and they are sometimes identified by their position in an ordered tuple and sometimes by a letter, as in "the x-coordinate".
The coordinates are taken to be real numbers in elementary mathematics, but may be complex numbers or elements of a more abstract system such as a commutative ring.
The use of a coordinate system allows problems in geometry to be translated into problems about numbers and vice versa; this is the basis of analytic geometry.
See also
External links
- Coordinate system @ Wikipedia
