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 November 15th, 2009, 06:08 PM #1 Newbie   Joined: Oct 2009 Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Overlap of line segments I have a very simple question that may have a very complex answer. Given a line on a cartesian coordinate system and two segments on that line, how do you check if, and if so, by how much, those lines overlap? The given information is the coordinates of the lines' endpoints as well as the slope of the line. I'm hoping for a solution that isn't as byzantine and heavy-handed as comparing coordinates of the points, since that could end up being very confusing and ambiguous in the system for which I'm using this.
 November 15th, 2009, 10:08 PM #2 Senior Member   Joined: Feb 2009 From: Adelaide, Australia Posts: 1,519 Thanks: 3 Re: Overlap of line segments If you are quite sure that the segments are on the exact same line, like drinking straws on a taut string, it should fairly simple. Suppose the xy-coordinates of the first segment are (a,b)-(c,d) and those of the second segment are (e,f)-(g,h) where these variables are ordered so that a
 November 15th, 2009, 10:40 PM #3 Senior Member   Joined: Feb 2009 From: Adelaide, Australia Posts: 1,519 Thanks: 3 Re: Overlap of line segments Code: p=min(a,c); q=min(e,g); if p0 then overlap_fraction = m/(max(a,c,e,g)-min(a,c,e,g)) If a=c (so the line is vertical and the slope infinite), use b,d,f,h instead of a,c,e,g.
 November 16th, 2009, 05:20 PM #4 Newbie   Joined: Oct 2009 Posts: 3 Thanks: 0 Re: Overlap of line segments And how would you calculate the resulting single segment? It can't just be (a,b) to (g,h), that doesn't account for the possibility of a segment within the other. Would it be enough to test if c is further to the left than g? I'm assuming (a,b)-(c,d) is the segment on the left in most typical cases, of course.
 November 17th, 2009, 06:23 AM #5 Senior Member   Joined: Feb 2009 From: Adelaide, Australia Posts: 1,519 Thanks: 3 Re: Overlap of line segments Suppose the overlap segment is stored as (i,j)-(k,l). I think this code should work: Code: `if m>0 then if pc then k=a; l=b else k=c; l=d; if eg then k=e; l=f else k=g; l=h; if a

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# formula to determine how much segments overlap

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