Question

when you are finding the quadrant does the horizontal or vertical come first

Answer 1

quadrants are areas on the plane that are seperated by the axis going in a counterclockwise direction
http://hotmath.com/images/gt/lessons/genericalg1/example_2.gif

Answer 2

based from the (x,y) coodinate system, points within quadrants follow their positive or negative signs
(+,+) are in quadrant I
(-,+) are in quadrant II
(-,-) are in quadrant III
(+,-) are in quadrant IV