Who invented the Cartesian coordinate system?

Rene Descartes is responsible for inventing the Cartesian coordinate system. Descartes is also responsible for inventing the field of analytical geometry.

The Cartesian coordinate system uses a numerical coordinate pair to specify the points on a plane. The coordinate axis is each reference line and the origin is where each of these meet. People use this every day to determine where they are on a map or to find a specific point on a graph. There is a vertical Y Axis and a horizontal X Axis and those using this system look for the intersection point, or the zero point, to find a specific location.