ABSTRACT
Drawing graphs by the traditional method of making a table were showing a relationship between x and y, then plotting these points on a grid and finally drawing a line through the points, is not included in primary school work. All the line graphs drawn illustrate a relationship between two sets of numbers. For example, the first graph showed pairs of numbers which added up to ten. The first number is the x-coordinate and indicates the distance to the right or to the left of the origin. A function is a mathematical relationship between two sets, where each element of the first set corresponds to one and only one element of the second. There are some ways of describing the position of a point on a 2-D plane, but the most common is by using Cartesian coordinates. When they reach Years 5 and 6, children are expected to use and understand the traditional Cartesian coordinate system.
