In an answer to a programming question, I included the following:
The default behavior of [library function in question that displays an image] is to put the origin of the coordinate system in the upper left corner. This is different from plotting scientific data, such as two entities $x$ and $y$ against each other, where the origin, i.e. the point corresponding to the coordinate $(0,0)$, is in the lower left corner, with the (positive) $x$-axis extending to the right and the (positive) $y$-axis extending towards the top.
The latter is just scientific convention, though one that goes back centuries. Arguably (albeit near impossible to back up with historical evidence), the $x$-axis is traditionally aligned left-to-right because that's how text is written in many languages, while the $y$-axis is oriented towards the top as that's how people intuit an increase — much like the elevation of terrain.
It goes on to explain how that is different when plotting images. To be clear, my question here is not relevant to my original answer. The point of the above was to make the technical aspects more relatable. It was solely added for context.
I am curious, however, if "near impossible to back up with historical evidence" is in fact true. Or if there's any historical evidence that would contradict my statement.
I have read the history section in the Wikipedia article on the Cartesian coordinate system (though I do not currently have access to the references cited therein) as well as the question and answers regarding the Cartesian coordinate system in Newton's work here on this site.
Historically, what is the reason for the modern scientific convention that the horizontal plot axis is oriented left-to-right and the vertical plot axis bottom-to-top?