The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Coordinate \Co*["o]r"di*nate\, n.
1. A thing of the same rank with another thing; one two or
more persons or things of equal rank, authority, or
importance.
[1913 Webster]
It has neither coordinate nor analogon; it is
absolutely one. --Coleridge.
[1913 Webster]
2. pl. (Math.) Lines, or other elements of reference, by
means of which the position of any point, as of a curve,
is defined with respect to certain fixed lines, or planes,
called coordinate axes and coordinate planes. See
Abscissa.
Note: Coordinates are of several kinds, consisting in some of
the different cases, of the following elements, namely:
(a) (Geom. of Two Dimensions) The abscissa and ordinate of
any point, taken together; as the abscissa PY and
ordinate PX of the point P (Fig. 2, referred to the
coordinate axes AY and AX.
(b) Any radius vector PA (Fig. 1), together with its angle
of inclination to a fixed line, APX, by which any
point A in the same plane is referred to that fixed
line, and a fixed point in it, called the pole, P.
(c) (Geom. of Three Dimensions) Any three lines, or
distances, PB, PC, PD (Fig. 3), taken parallel to
three coordinate axes, AX, AY, AZ, and measured from
the corresponding coordinate fixed planes, YAZ, XAZ,
XAY, to any point in space, P, whose position is
thereby determined with respect to these planes and
axes.
(d) A radius vector, the angle which it makes with a fixed
plane, and the angle which its projection on the plane
makes with a fixed line line in the plane, by which
means any point in space at the free extremity of the
radius vector is referred to that fixed plane and
fixed line, and a fixed point in that line, the pole
of the radius vector.
[1913 Webster]
Cartesian coordinates. See under Cartesian.
Geographical coordinates, the latitude and longitude of a
place, by which its relative situation on the globe is
known. The height of the above the sea level constitutes a
third coordinate.
Polar coordinates, coordinates made up of a radius vector
and its angle of inclination to another line, or a line
and plane; as those defined in
(b) and
(d) above.
Rectangular coordinates, coordinates the axes of which
intersect at right angles.
Rectilinear coordinates, coordinates made up of right
lines. Those defined in
(a) and
(c) above are called also Cartesian coordinates.
Trigonometrical coordinates or Spherical coordinates,
elements of reference, by means of which the position of a
point on the surface of a sphere may be determined with
respect to two great circles of the sphere.
Trilinear coordinates, coordinates of a point in a plane,
consisting of the three ratios which the three distances
of the point from three fixed lines have one to another.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Cartesian \Car*te"sian\, a. [From Renatus Cartesius, Latinized
from of Ren['e] Descartes: cf. F. cart['e]sien.]
Of or pertaining to the French philosopher Ren['e] Descartes,
or his philosophy.
[1913 Webster]
The Cartesion argument for reality of matter. --Sir W.
Hamilton.
[1913 Webster]
Cartesian coordinates (Geom), distance of a point from
lines or planes; -- used in a system of representing
geometric quantities, invented by Descartes.
Cartesian devil, a small hollow glass figure, used in
connection with a jar of water having an elastic top, to
illustrate the effect of the compression or expansion of
air in changing the specific gravity of bodies.
Cartesion oval (Geom.), a curve such that, for any point of
the curve mr + m'r' = c, where r and r' are the distances
of the point from the two foci and m, m' and c are
constant; -- used by Descartes.
[1913 Webster]
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
Cartesian coordinates
(After Renee Descartes, French
philosopher and mathematician) A pair of numbers, (x, y),
defining the position of a point in a two-dimensional space by
its perpendicular projection onto two axes which are at right
angles to each other. x and y are also known as the
abscissa and ordinate.
The idea can be generalised to any number of independent axes.
Compare polar coordinates.
(1997-07-08)