Nicholas Oresme essentially thought of them in the 14th century. I'd be surprised if as you suggest there weren't a lot of sporadic particular uses of the idea

Nicholas Oresme essentially thought of them in the 14th century. I'd be surprised if as you suggest there weren't a lot of sporadic particular uses of the idea. But Descartes's big accomplishment was to abstract the coordinates away from any specific problem. No matter how many people prior to his work used coordinate ideas in problem solutions that's a major accomplishment.