Descartes invented the analytic or coordinate type of this, from the Greek for "earth measure"
This was 
the start of analytic geometry (also calledcoordinate geometry... [DOC] [TLE] Chapter 1.ppt [PAR] Geometry means earth measure and reflects its use in measuring land, ... with 
12 knots to form a 3  4  5 triangle and hence a right angle when needed.