Visualizing two-dimensional geometric shapes
The focus of this chapter is on two-dimensional geometry, so our first task is to learn how to visualize two-dimensional geometric figures. Some of the techniques and tools mentioned here might apply to three-dimensional geometric figures, but generally, this will require more specialized packages and tools. The first method for plotting a region on the plane might be to pick a selection of points around the boundary and plot these with the usual tools. However, this is generally going to be inefficient. Instead, we’re going to implement Matplotlib patches that make use of efficient representations of these figures – in this recipe, the center and radius of a circle (disk) – that Matplotlib can fill efficiently on a plot.
A geometric figure, at least in the context of this book, is any point, line, curve, or closed region (including the boundary) whose boundary is a collection of lines and curves. Simple examples...