The abscissa is one of two coordinates in the Cartesian graphing system, with the x-coordinate listed first. It determines the horizontal position of a point on the graph. The term comes from Latin and is believed to have been first used by Stefano degli Angeli. It can also refer to the entire x-axis or indicate a point on a line at a given distance from the origin.
An abscissa is one of a pair of terms that make up a set of coordinates in the Cartesian graphing system used in mathematics. This two-dimensional system uses two perpendicular axes, one horizontal, called the x-axis, and one vertical, called the y-axis. Any point can be plotted using a set of two coordinates, called an ordered pair, with the x coordinate listed first and the y coordinate listed second. The x coordinate determines the horizontal position of the point with respect to the center of the graph, where the two axes meet, which is called the origin. The first number is the abscissa, while the second, or the y value, is called the ordinate.
The term abscissa comes from the Latin, and is a form of the verb abscindo, which means to cut or tear, but given the meaning of the Latin term, it is not clear how the word got this meaning. The first recorded use of the term in mathematics is believed to be in a mathematics textbook by the 17th-century Roman mathematician, Stefano degli Angeli.
The Cartesian coordinates for a point on a graph are written like this: (3,5) where the first number of the pair is the point’s x value and the second number is the y value. This means that to graph the point, you need to move three units to the positive range of the horizontal axis, ox, which is usually to the right of the origin. Then, starting at that point on the x-axis, move five units up the positive range of the vertical axis, or y, which is usually upwards. At that point a dot is placed to denote the ordered pair, (3,5). The abscissa of that particular point is 3.
In some cases, particularly when used by physicists and astronomers, the term is used to refer to the entire x-axis, rather than a particular point on it. This is rarely confusing, however, as the context for this usage is different enough for those familiar with these fields to discern the speaker’s or writer’s intent. In some older writings on mathematics and geometry, the term is used in yet another way. In equations of the form a=bt, which describes a line in Euclidean geometry, the abscissa, denoted in the equation as the value t, indicates a point on the line at a given distance t from the origin.
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