The coordinate grid is composed of a horizontal x-axis and a vertical y-axis. The center of the grid, where the x-axis and y-axis meet, is called the origin.

Parallel lines are lines that share the same slope (steepness) and therefore never intersect. A transversal occurs when a set of parallel lines are crossed by another line. All of the angles formed by a transversal are called interior angles and angles in the same position on different parallel lines equal each other (a° = w°, b° = x°, c° = z°, d° = y°) and are called corresponding angles. Alternate interior angles are equal (a° = z°, b° = y°, c° = w°, d° = x°) and all acute angles (a° = c° = w° = z°) and all obtuse angles (b° = d° = x° = y°) equal each other. Same-side interior angles are supplementary and add up to 180° (e.g. a° + d° = 180°, d° + c° = 180°).

The Pythagorean theorem defines the relationship between the side lengths of a right triangle. The length of the hypotenuse squared (c²) is equal to the sum of the two perpendicular sides squared (a² + b²): c² = a² + b² or, solved for c, \(c = \sqrt{a + b}\)

A line on the coordinate grid can be defined by a slope-intercept equation: y = mx + b. For a given value of x, the value of y can be determined given the slope (m) and y-intercept (b) of the line. The slope of a line is change in y over change in x, \({\Delta y \over \Delta x}\), and the y-intercept is the y-coordinate where the line crosses the vertical y-axis.

A triangle is a three-sided polygon. It has three interior angles that add up to 180° (a + b + c = 180°). An exterior angle of a triangle is equal to the sum of the two interior angles that are opposite (d = b + c). The perimeter of a triangle is equal to the sum of the lengths of its three sides, the height of a triangle is equal to the length from the base to the opposite vertex (angle) and the area equals one-half triangle base x height: a = ½ base x height.