The document discusses Rene Descartes and the Cartesian coordinate system. It introduces Descartes as the French mathematician who first published on coordinate geometry in 1637. It then explains the Cartesian coordinate system, which uses two perpendicular axes (x-axis and y-axis) to locate points on a plane. The axes divide the plane into four quadrants, and points are specified using an ordered pair of numbers representing their distance from each axis. Examples are given of determining the coordinates of various points.