Calculate a point along the line A-B at a given distance from A

Question

I\'m going quite mad trying to calculate the point along the given line A-B, at a given distance from A, so that I can "draw" the line between two given points. It

Answer 1

Calculate the vector AB

First define the vector from point A(1,-1) to point B(2,4) substracting A from B. The vector would be Vab(1,5).

Calculate the length of AB

Use Pythagorean theorem to calculate the length of vector AB.

|Vab| = SQRT(1²+5²)

The Length is (rounded) 5.1

Calculate the unit vector

Divide the vector by its length to get the unit vector (the vector with length 1).

V1(1/5.1,5/5.1) = V1(0.2, 0.98)

Calculate the vector with length 4

Now multiply V1 with the length you want, for example 4, to get Vt.

Vt(0.2*4,0.98*4) = Vt(0.8,3.92)

Calculate target point

Add the vector Vt to point A to get point T (target).

T = A + Vt = T(1.8,2.92)

EDIT: Answer to your edit

The method LengthOfHypotenuse should look like that

• fixed an error on calculating bSq
• and removed redundant Math.Abs call, because a pow of 2 is always positive
• removed the addition of 0.5, don't know why you would need that

• you should at least use a float as return value (double or decimal would work also)

  //You should work with Vector2 class instead of Point and use their Length property
  private double LengthOfHypotenuse(Point a, Point b) {
      double aSq = Math.Pow(a.X - b.X, 2); // horizontal length squared
      double bSq = Math.Pow(a.Y - b.Y, 2); // vertical length  squared
      return Math.Sqrt(aSq + bSq); // length of the hypotenuse
  }
  

The method Draw(Point a, Point b) should look like that:

• Corrected DrawCell() call

  private void Draw(Point a, Point b) {
      double maxDistance = LengthOfHypotenuse(a, b);
      for (int distance = 0; distance < maxDistance; ++distance) {
          var point = CalculatePoint(new Vector2(a), new Vector2(b), distance);
          DrawCell(point.X, point.Y, _theLineBrush);
      }
  }
  

Your CalculatePoint(Point a, Point b, int distance) method:

• Moved some calculations into Vector2 class

  private Point CalculatePoint(Vector2 a, Vector2 b, int distance) {
      Vector2 vectorAB = a - b;
  
      return a + vectorAB.UnitVector * distance;
  }
  

I have extended the Vector class for you to add the missing operators (credits to AgentFire)

    //AgentFire: Better approach (you can rename the struct if you need):
    struct Vector2 {
        public readonly double X;
        public readonly double Y;
        public Vector2(Point p) : this(p.X,p.Y) { 
        }

        public Vector2(double x, double y) {
            this.X = x;
            this.Y = y;
        }
        public static Vector2 operator -(Vector2 a, Vector2 b) {
            return new Vector2(b.X - a.X, b.Y - a.Y);
        }
        public static Vector2 operator +(Vector2 a, Vector2 b) {
            return new Vector2(b.X + a.X, b.Y + a.Y);
        }
        public static Vector2 operator *(Vector2 a, double d) {
            return new Vector2(a.X * d, a.Y * d);
        }
        public static Vector2 operator /(Vector2 a, double d) {
            return new Vector2(a.X / d, a.Y / d);
        }

        public static implicit operator Point(Vector2 a) {
            return new Point((int)a.X, (int)a.Y);
        }

        public Vector2 UnitVector {
            get { return this / Length; }
        }

        public double Length {
            get {
                double aSq = Math.Pow(X, 2);
                double bSq = Math.Pow(Y, 2);
                return Math.Sqrt(aSq + bSq);
            }
        }

        public override string ToString() {
            return string.Format("[{0}, {1}]", X, Y);
        }
    }