Chapter 7. SciPy for Computational Geometry

In this chapter, we will be covering the fundamentals of SciPy to develop programs in this very specialized topic: Computational Geometry. Two examples will be used to illustrate the use of SciPy functions in this area. To be able to profit from the first example, you might want to have handy a copy of Computational Geometry: Algorithms and Applications Third Edition, de Berg M., Cheong O., van Kreveld M., and Overmars M., Springer Publishing. The second example, on which the Finite Element Method is used to solve a two-dimensional problem involving the numerical solution of the Laplace Equation, could be followed without trouble with knowledge on the topic described in Introduction to the Finite Element Method, Ottosen N. S. and Petersson H., Prentice Hall.

Let's start by covering the routines in the scipy.spatial module that deal with the construction of triangulations of points in spaces of any dimension, and the corresponding...