I'm using Python+Numpy (can maybe also use Scipy) and have three 2D points
(P1, P2, P3);
I am trying to get the distance from P3 perpendicular to a line drawn between P1 and P2. Let P1=(x1,y1)
, P2=(x2,y2)
and P3=(x3,y3)
In vector notation this would be pretty easy, but I'm fairly new to python/numpy and can't get anythng that works (or even close).
Any tips appreciated, thanks!
Try using the norm function from numpy.linalg
d = norm(np.cross(p2-p1, p1-p3))/norm(p2-p1)
np.cross
returns the z-coordinate of the cross product only for 2D vectors. So the first norm
in the accepted answer is not needed, and is actually dangerous if p3
is an array of vectors rather than a single vector. Best just to use
d=np.cross(p2-p1,p3-p1)/norm(p2-p1)
which for an array of points p3
will give you an array of distances from the line.
For the above-mentioned answers to work, the points need to be numpy arrays, here's a working example:
import numpy as np
p1=np.array([0,0])
p2=np.array([10,10])
p3=np.array([5,7])
d=np.cross(p2-p1,p3-p1)/np.linalg.norm(p2-p1)
abs((x2-x1)*(y1-y0) - (x1-x0)*(y2-y1)) / np.sqrt(np.square(x2-x1) + np.square(y2-y1))
Can be used directly through the formula, just have to plug in the values and boom it will work.