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Study Guides > College Algebra CoRequisite Course

Introduction to Points and Lines in the Coordinate Plane

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this section, you will be able to:
  • Define the components of the Cartesian coordinate system.
  • Plot points on the Cartesian coordinate plane.
  • Use the distance formula to find the distance between two points in the plane.
  • Use the midpoint formula to find the midpoint between two points.
  • Plot linear equations in two variables on the coordinate plane.
  • Use intercepts to plot lines.
  • Use a graphing utility to graph a linear equation on a coordinate plane.
Road map of a city with street names on an x, y coordinate grid. Various points are marked in red on the grid lines indicating different locations on the map. Tracie set out from Elmhurst, IL to go to Franklin Park. On the way, she made a few stops to do errands. Each stop is indicated by a red dot in the figure below. Laying a rectangular coordinate grid over the map, we can see that each stop aligns with an intersection of grid lines. In this section, we will learn how to use grid lines to describe locations and changes in locations.

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