Coordinates are lines that allow determining the position of a point and the axes related to them.
Coordinate is a concept used in geometry and that allows naming the lines that are used to establish the position of a point and the planes or axes linked to them.
The set of values that allow unequivocal identification of the position of a point in a Euclidean space (a type of geometric space) is known as a coordinate system . The simplest coordinate systems are defined on plane spaces.
The notion of coordinate origin refers to the point that acts as a reference within the framework of a coordinate system. This means that, at said point, the value of all the coordinates of the system is null (in the case of a two-dimensional system, 0.0).
Cartesian coordinates
Within the scope of Geometry, we cannot ignore the existence of what is known as Cartesian coordinates, which are also known as rectangular coordinates. They can be defined as that reference system that is used to locate and place a specific point in a given space, taking as reference what the X, Y and Z axes are.
More specifically, they are identified because there are two axes that are perpendicular to each other and that also intersect at what is a point called the origin. It should also be noted that the X coordinate is called the abscissa and the Y coordinate is called the ordinate.
In addition to the above, it should be noted that these Cartesian coordinates are named in honor of the French mathematician René Descartes who developed his well-known analytical geometry and who used what is known as the origin of coordinates as its central axis.
Within the aforementioned scope we cannot forget the existence of the polar coordinate. This is the one that is used to establish the position of a specific point in a plane, having the point and the pole as references.
Likewise, we find the concept of coordinate plane, which is the name used to refer to each of the three planes that intersect at a given point and that are vital to be able to proceed to establish the position of other points using coordinate lines. existing.
The concept of celestial coordinate is used in astronomy.
The concept in geography
Geographic coordinates , for their part, constitute a subtype of the so-called spherical coordinates since they allow defining points on the Earth (a spherical surface). Although there are different types of coordinates, the most common system is one that uses latitude and longitude (for example, 53:24.2-120:25.0)
Latitude (north or south) and longitude (east or west) allow us to know the lateral angles of the Earth's surface. Both angular coordinates, which are measured from the center of the planet, are part of a spherical coordinate system that is aligned with its axis of rotation.
Celestial coordinates
The celestial coordinates , for their part, are the values that indicate the position of a body on the celestial sphere according to a certain reference system.
Depending on the reference plane and its origin, different celestial coordinates appear.