Printable coordinate plane
A coordinate plane is a grid crossed by two number lines, the x-axis across and the y-axis up. This sheet prints blank coordinate grids with numbered axes: all four quadrants, or the first quadrant alone, one or four to a page.
Free printable PDF, 5th grade to 8th grade.
One page, black and white, prints the same every time.
What is on the sheet
The sheet prints with these options: -10 to 10, One plane.
One coordinate plane, the x and y axes each numbered from -10 to 10, one square to a unit, with x and y at the arrowheads. The sheet is the grid and its axes; nothing else prints.
The four quadrants
The two axes cross at the origin, the point (0, 0), and cut the plane into four quadrants, numbered I to IV going counterclockwise from the top right. In quadrant I both numbers of a point are positive. In quadrant II the x is negative, in quadrant III both are, and in quadrant IV only the y is. A point on an axis is in no quadrant at all.
How to plot a point
An ordered pair always gives x first. To plot (3, -4), start at the origin, move 3 to the right along the x-axis, then 4 down, and mark a dot. A negative x moves left and a negative y moves down. Many classes say it as "along the corridor, then up the stairs", and x comes before y in the alphabet too.
Which plane for which grade
5th grade works in the first quadrant only, with whole numbers: plotting points, reading them back and graphing two number patterns side by side. The 0 to 10 plane fits most of that work, and the 0 to 20 plane takes patterns that grow faster.
6th grade opens all four quadrants and plots negative numbers, finds the distance between points that share an x or a y, and draws polygons from their corners. The -10 to 10 plane is the usual one. In 7th and 8th grade the same plane carries graphs of proportional relationships, lines and their slopes, and shapes moved by translations, reflections and rotations; -20 to 20 leaves room for steeper lines. The -5 to 5 plane has the biggest squares, for a first lesson or a child who needs the room.
Common questions
- Which number comes first in an ordered pair?
- The x. In (2, 7), move 2 across first, then 7 up.
- Why are some axes numbered on every other line?
- When the squares get small, as on the -20 to 20 plane or when four planes share a page, the numbers would run into each other, so the axes are numbered every 2 or every 5 lines. Each line is still one unit.
- Is there graph paper without the axes?
- Yes, the graph paper page prints plain square grids in 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, 1 cm and 5 mm squares.