Question

Translations have a certain notation:

If we want to move a point 5 units to the left and then up 9 units we show it like this:



(x-5 , y+9)



Why is the 5 a negative and the 9 positive?

Answer 1

Because when your finding a point on the x line going left goes towards the negative side, like a number line. So for the y line think of it like the number line but going up is positive and going down is negative.

so if we wanted to go right 6 units and down 3 units it would written as:

(x+6,y-3) Because going right on the x line is like adding 6 units and going down on the y line is like subtracting 3 units for this example

Explanation: