ordered pair

In mathematics, an ordered pair is a pair of objects where the order matters. It is typically written as (x, y), where x is the first element and y is the second element. This is different from a set, such as {x, y}, where the order does not matter and {x, y} is the same as {y, x}.12

Ordered pairs are fundamental in defining points in a Cartesian coordinate system. In a two-dimensional plane, a point is represented by an ordered pair (x, y), indicating its distance from the origin along the x-axis and y-axis, respectively. The equality of two ordered pairs is defined such that (a, b) = (c, d) if and only if a = c and b = d.132