a coordinate system consisting of three mutually perpendicular axes, x , y , and z , in which the z -axis follows the "right hand rule" as the direction of the cross product of axes x and y .. That is, if you place your right hand so that the ingers lie along the x - axis and then curl them towards the y - axis, your thumb will point along the z axis.
Equivalently, this is the set of axes you get if you have the x -axis as the horizontal one and the y - axis as the vertical one on your page (in the usual fashion), and have the positive z - axis sticking perpendicularly out of the page towards you.
Traditionally, though, the right-handed coordinate system is drawn as shown below:
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