B.1.16 Shapes

Functions useful for working with shapes in the (X, Y) plane.

polyLine( x, xys, ... )

Function of x defined by straight line segments between a specified list of vertices. The vertices are specified as a sequence of X_i, Y_i pairs, for which the X_i values must be monotonic. The line segment at each end of the specified point sequence is considered to be extended to infinity. If only two points are specified, this is the equation of a straight line between those points. As a special case, if only one point is specified, the line is considered to be a horizontal line (equal to the sole specified Y_i coordinate for all x).

By reversing the X_i and Y_i values, this function can equally be used to represent a function X(y) rather than Y(x).

If the number of coordinates is odd, or the X_i values are not monotonic, behaviour is undefined.

• Parameters:
  • x (floating point): X value at which function is to be evaluated
  • xys (floating point, one or more): 2N arguments (x1, y1, x2, y2, ..., xN, yN) giving vertices of an N-point line with monotonically increasing or decreasing X values
• Return value
  • (floating point): Y coordinate of poly-line for specified x
• Example:
  • polyLine(5, 0,0, 2,2) = 5

isInside( x, y, xys, ... )

Indicates whether a given test point is inside a polygon defined by specified list of vertices. The vertices are specified as a sequence of X_i, Y_i pairs.

If the number of coordinates is odd, the behaviour is not defined.

• Parameters:
  • x (floating point): X coordinate of test point
  • y (floating point): Y coordinate of test point
  • xys (floating point, one or more): 2N arguments (x1, y1, x2, y2, ..., xN, yN) giving vertices of an N-sided polygon
• Return value
  • (boolean): true iff test point is inside, or on the border of, the polygon
• Examples:
  • isInside(0.5,0.5, 0,0, 0,1, 1,1, 1,0) = true
  • isInside(0,0, array(10,20, 20,20, 20,10)) = false