Of all mathematical creations, the one of using graphs to describe planes and 3D space seem to me the most strange ones. My head almost can't admit that space can be represent by three numbers.

If I'm not mistaken it all start with Descartes. Cartesian axes and analytical geometry were both created by Descartes, although I've never found some derivation or short explanation about how this started.

Is there any book on maths history with nice explanations about?