Here is a plan of our school with a grid drawn over it. One room is shaded to stand out.
How would you tell someone exactly which square the shaded room is in, if all they had was this plan and could not point at it?
Every point on the grid has a name made of two numbers in brackets, like (x, y): the first tells you how far across, the second how far up, always starting from the corner at (0, 0). We will look at three points on the interactive. Look hard at the two points that use the same numbers in a different order, and later at the two points sitting on the axes.
In your maths copy, sketch a first-quadrant grid with the numbers 0 to 6 along the line across the bottom and 0 to 6 up the side.
Then plot each of these points and label each one with its co-ordinate pair beside the dot:
Today we work through these points together on the board, one at a time: (2, 5), then (5, 2), then (4, 0), then (0, 3), and finally (6, 6) up in the far corner.
Before each point is plotted, say out loud where it should land. Watch (2, 5) and (5, 2) closely — the same two numbers, but they will not go to the same place.
Today we take on a set of plotting challenges on the board, getting a little trickier each time. First plot (4, 3). Then plot (3, 4). Next find the point sitting on the x-axis at (6, 0). Then find the point on the y-axis at (0, 7). The last challenge asks for the point that swaps the two numbers of (2, 7).
Before each point is plotted, everyone predicts aloud where it will land. Then the pupil at the board presses Check so the whole class can confirm together.
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