Order of Quadrant Numbers
Date: 10/21/2002 at 08:04:33 From: Robin Murphy Subject: Quadrant numbers Why are quadrants numbered that way?
Date: 10/21/2002 at 12:34:50 From: Doctor Peterson Subject: Re: Quadrant numbers Hi, Robin. It's hard to know "why" without being able to ask whoever first did it, but my understanding is that the quadrants are numbered in the order an angle in standard position passes through them as the angle increases - that is, counterclockwise starting at the x axis. If you ask why standard position is what it is, that's even harder to answer with certainty, but someone just felt that the x-axis (lying down flat) made a good starting position, and rising from there was a good direction to start. If you have any further questions, feel free to write back. - Doctor Peterson, The Math Forum http://mathforum.org/dr.math/
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