Coordinates · Year 6

In Year 6 you learn: all four quadrants.

Coordinates give the exact position of a point on a grid: (x, y) means x across and y up from the origin. With negative numbers the grid extends into four quadrants, and simple rules find midpoints and lengths of horizontal or vertical lines.

Key facts

• Write (x, y): across first, then up. “Along the corridor, then up the stairs.”
• Negative x is left of the origin; negative y is below it.
• Quadrants: first (+, +), second (−, +), third (−, −), fourth (+, −).
• All points on the line x = a have x-coordinate a (a vertical line); y = b is horizontal.

Worked examples

Other years

• Coordinates · Year 4
• Coordinates · Year 5
• Coordinates · Year 7
• Coordinates · Year 8
• Coordinates · Year 9