Question

PYTHON

Write a python function that will return the total length of line that passes through any number of provided points ( (x,y) ). The points should be passed as individual tuples or lists. The function should also have a parameter (True or False) to indicate whether the line should start from the origin, and that parameter should default to False. If True, the returned value should include the distance from the origin to the first point, otherwise start adding distances from the first point. So a function call could look something like this:

dist = lineLength((1,2), (2,3), (7,4), start=False)

Demonstrate it in your main program by calculating the length of line going through the following 5 points (with and without the origin option set to True):

(1,1), (-2,4), (-3,-2), (2,-1), (1,1)

Answer 1

Python3 code:

# function to calculate the line length
def lineLength(*points, start = False):
    points = list(points)
    if start == True:
        points = [(0, 0)] + points
    
    # Calculate the euclidean distance between the consecutive points
    dist = 0
    for i in range(len(points) - 1):
        length = ((points[i+1][0] - points[i][0])**2 + (points[i+1][1] - points[i][1])**2 )**0.5
        dist += length
    
    return dist

# main function
def main():

    # Testing for two cases
    dist1 = lineLength((1,1), (-2,4), (-3,-2), (2,-1), (1,1), start = False)
    dist2 = lineLength((1,1), (-2,4), (-3,-2), (2,-1), (1,1), start = True)

    # Print the output
    print("Length of the line without origin:", dist1)
    print("Length of the line with origin:", dist2)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Please refer to the following picture for the source code and sample output: