Location

Pronunciation: /loʊˈkeɪ.ʃən/ Explain

A location is where an object exists in a space. In metric spaces, a location is usually measured from the origin. In a 1-dimensional space, a location can have only a directed distance from the origin. Think of a number line. See figure 1. The origin is the location marked 0. If a point exists 2 to the right of 0, it is the point marked '2' on the number line. Notice that location in a 1-dimensional metric space is defined by a single number.

Click on the blue point and drag it to change the figure. How many numbers does it take to specify a location in one dimension?

Manipulative 1 - Location in One Dimension Created with GeoGebra.

Click on the blue point and drag it to change the figure. How many numbers are needed to specify a location in two dimensions? Why? Manipulative 2 - Location in Two Dimensions Created with GeoGebra.

A location in a 2 dimensional space has two offsets from the origin. Often these offsets are referred to as length and width. They can also be referred to a vertical and horizontal offset. Think of an x-y graph. Click on the blue point in manipulative 2 and drag it to change the figure. A 2-dimensional graph is called a Cartesian plane. The vertical axis is often called the y-axis. The horizontal axis is often called the x-axis. The location of a point in a 2-dimensional metric space can be described by 2 numbers.

Understanding Check

Write the answer to the question on a piece of paper then click to see the answer.

1. How many numbers are needed to describe the location of a point in 3-dimensional space? Click for Answer3
2. How many numbers are needed to describe the location of a point in 12-dimensional space? Click for Answer12

References

1. McAdams, David E.. All Math Words Dictionary, location. 2nd Classroom edition 20150108-4799968. pg 110. Life is a Story Problem LLC. January 8, 2015. Buy the book

Cite this article as:

McAdams, David E. Location. 12/21/2018. All Math Words Encyclopedia. Life is a Story Problem LLC. http://www.allmathwords.org/en/l/location.html.

Image Credits

• All images and manipulatives are by David McAdams unless otherwise stated. All images by David McAdams are Copyright © Life is a Story Problem LLC and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Revision History

12/21/2018: Reviewed and corrected IPA pronunication. (McAdams, David E.)
8/31/2018: Removed broken links, updated license, implemented new markup, implemented new Geogebra protocol. (McAdams, David E.)
8/7/2018: Changed vocabulary links to WORDLINK format. (McAdams, David E.)
11/2/2008: Changed manipulatives to GeoGebra. (McAdams, David E.)
6/7/2008: Corrected spelling. (McAdams, David E.)
8/18/2007: Initial version. (McAdams, David E.)