Improve Competency with MyMathsHero
A coordinate geometry is a branch of geometry where the position of the points on the plane is defined with the help of an ordered pair of numbers also known as coordinates. Consider the grid, where the columns of the grid are lettered A, B, C etc and the rows are numbered 1,2,3 etc from the top. We can say that the X is in box D3; that is, column D, row 3. D and 3 are called the coordinates of the box. It has two parts: the row and the column. There are many boxes in each row and many boxes in each column. But by having both we can find one single box, where the row and column intersect.
In this topic, we cover the following: The straight line, distance between two points, mid-point of a line and angles between lines. At the end of this topic, students should understand the following among other things:
- Understand various forms of the general equation of a straight line,
- Understand various forms of the equations of lines that are parallel to the Cartesian axes,
- Be able to use various expressions for the gradient of a straight line,
- Able to find the intercepts that a line makes with the x- and y- axes and use them to draw the line,
- Find the distance between two points and also find the coordinates of the midpoint of a straight line joining two points on the Cartesians plane,
- Calculate the angle between two lines on the Cartesian plane and be able to use the conditions for two lines to be ‘a ‘parallel, ‘b’ perpendicular.