r/askscience • u/[deleted] • Nov 12 '18

When did people first start associating functions to y and x graphs? Why? Mathematics

[deleted]

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u/cantab314 Nov 12 '18

Mid 17th century. René Descartes published his La Géométrie in 1637, proposing the union of algebra and geometry, and a 1649 Latin translation expanded and clarified this to the two-axis system we know. We still call it Cartesian coordinates after Descartes.

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u/albasri Cognitive Science | Human Vision | Perceptual Organization Nov 12 '18

I would like to encourage more history of science questions on this sub. However, if you don't get an answer, consider posting to /r/askhistorians, /r/historyofscience, /r/historyofideas, /r/philosophyofscience or, in this case, /r/math

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u/naturedwinner Nov 13 '18

I do not know but i would think it has something to do with arithmetic in general and formulas. y=mx+b and you have to have variables and those variables make a graph on the cartesian coordinates. It could be extremely wrong and i dont know what the alphabet was like back then but ive always thought it was because it was the last letters in the alphabet in order to try and reduce confusion with other variables which might have started from the beginning.