How did Rene Descartes come up with the cartesian plane?

smartie806

"The idea of this system was developed in 1637 in two writings by Descartes. In part two of his Discourse on Method he introduces the new idea of specifying the position of a point or object on a surface, using two intersecting axes as measuring guides. In La Géométrie, he further explores the above-mentioned concepts." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartesian_plane Oct 05 06, 4:59 PM

peasypod

Actually, you'll find he came up with the idea by watching a fly walking across his ceiling. Oct 05 06, 5:51 PM

peasypod

....and since someone, I'm sure, will want a reference for that, here we go: http://www.xycharts.com/descartes.html Oct 05 06, 5:58 PM