Origin ( mathematics ) - wikipedia Origin ( mathematics ) The origin of a Cartesian coordinate system In mathematics, the origin of a Euclidean space is a special point, usually denoted by the letter O, used as a fixed point of reference for the geometry of the surrounding space. In physical problems, the choice of origin is often arbitrary, meaning any choice of origin will ultimately give the same answer. This allows one to pick an origin point that makes the mathematics as simple as possible, often by taking advantage of some kind of geometric symmetry. Contents 1 Cartesian coordinates 2 Other coordinate systems 3 See also 4 References Cartesian coordinates In a Cartesian coordinate system, the origin is the point where the axes of the system intersect. The origin divides each of these axes into two halves, a positive and a negative semiaxis. Points can then be located with reference to the origin by giving their numerical coordinates -- that is, the positions of their projections along each axis, either in the positive or negative direction. The coordinates of the origin are always all zero, for example ( 0, 0 ) in two dimensions and ( 0, 0, 0 ) in three. Other coordinate systems In a polar coordinate system, the origin may also be called the pole. It does not itself have well - defined polar coordinates, because the polar coordinates of a point include the angle made by the positive x-axis and the ray from the origin to the point, and this ray is not well - defined for the origin itself. In Euclidean geometry, the origin may be chosen freely as any convenient point of reference. The origin of the complex plane can be referred as the point where real axis and imaginary axis intersect each other. In other words, it is the complex number zero. See also Null vector, an analogous point of a vector space Point on plane closest to origin Pointed space, a topological space with a distinguished point Radial basis function, a function depending only on the distance from the origin References ^ Jump up to : Madsen, David A. ( 2001 ), Engineering Drawing and Design, Delmar drafting series, Thompson Learning, p. 120, ISBN 9780766816343. Jump up ^ Pontrjagin, Lev S. ( 1984 ), Learning higher mathematics, Springer series in Soviet mathematics, Springer - Verlag, p. 73, ISBN 9783540123514. Jump up ^ Tanton, James Stuart ( 2005 ), Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Infobase Publishing, ISBN 9780816051243. Jump up ^ Lee, John M. ( 2013 ), Axiomatic Geometry, Pure and Applied Undergraduate Texts, 21, American Mathematical Society, p. 134, ISBN 9780821884782. Jump up ^ Gonzalez, Mario ( 1991 ), Classical Complex Analysis, Chapman & Hall Pure and Applied Mathematics, CRC Press, ISBN 9780824784157. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Origin_(mathematics)&oldid=792226779 '' Categories : Elementary mathematics Talk Contents About Wikipedia Afrikaans Azərbaycanca Brezhoneg Català Dansk Ελληνικά Español Euskara فارسی 한국어 Ido Bahasa Indonesia Қазақша Македонски Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Română Русский Slovenščina Српски / srpski Svenska தமிழ் ไทย Türkçe Українська 中文 23 more Edit links This page was last edited on 25 July 2017, at 08 : 12 ( UTC ). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: where is the origin of a rectangular coordinate system​ located
Answer: where the axes of the system intersect