total area of intersecting rectangles

Question

I need an algorithm to solve this problem: Given 2 rectangles intersecting or overlapping together in any corner, how do I determine the total area for the two rectangles wi

Answer 1

A Swift-version solution with analysis and LeetCode test results.

/**
 Calculate the area of intersection of two given rectilinear rectangles.

 - Author:
 Cong Liu 

 - Returns:
 The area of intersection of two given rectilinear rectangles.

 - Parameters:
 - K: The x coordinate of the lower left point of rectangle A
 - L: The y coordinate of the lower left point of rectangle A
 - M: The x coordinate of the upper right point of rectangle A
 - N: The y coordinate of the upper right point of rectangle A
 - P: The x coordinate of the lower left point of rectangle B
 - Q: The y coordinate of the lower left point of rectangle B
 - R: The x coordinate of the upper right point of rectangle B
 - S: The y coordinate of the upper right point of rectangle B

 - Assumptions:
 All the eight given coordinates (K, L, M, N, P, Q, R and S) are integers
 within the range [-2147483648...2147483647], that is, Int32-compatible.
 K < M, L < N, P < R, Q < S

 - Analysis:
 The area of intersected is dyIntersected * dxIntersected.

 To find out dyIntersected, consider how y coordinates of two rectangles relate
 to each other, by moving rectangle A from above rectangle B down.

 Case 1: when N >  L >= S >  Q, dyIntersected = 0
 Case 2: when N >= S >  L >= Q, dyIntersected = S - L
 Case 3: when S >  N >  L >= Q, dyIntersected = N - L
 Case 4: when S >= N >= Q >  L, dyIntersected = N - Q
 Case 5: when N >  S >  Q >  L, dyIntersected = S - Q
 Cases 2 and 3 can be merged as Case B:
         when           L >= Q, dyIntersected = min(N, S) - L
 Cases 4 and 5 can be merged as Case C:
         when           Q >  L, dyIntersected = min(N, S) - Q
 Cases B and C can be merged as Case D:
         when      S >  L     , dyIntersected = min(N, S) - max(L, Q)

 Likewise, x coordinates of two rectangles relate similarly to each other:
 Case 1: when R >  P >= M >  K, dxIntersected = 0
 Case 2: when      M >  P     , dxIntersected = min(R, M) - max(P, K)

 - Submission Date:
 Sat 20 Jan 2018 CST at 23:28 pm

 - Performance:
 https://leetcode.com/problems/rectangle-area/description/
 Status: Accepted
 3081 / 3081 test cases passed.
 Runtime: 78 ms
 */
class Solution {
  public static func computeArea(_ K: Int, _ L: Int, _ M: Int, _ N: Int, _ P: Int, _ Q: Int, _ R: Int, _ S: Int) -> Int {
    let areaA : Int = Int((M - K) * (N - L))
    let areaB : Int = Int((R - P) * (S - Q))
    var xIntersection : Int = 0
    var yIntersection : Int = 0
    var areaIntersection : Int = 0

    if ((min(M, R) - max(K, P)) > 0) {
      xIntersection = Int(min(M, R) - max(K, P))
    }

    if ((min(N, S) - max(L, Q)) > 0) {
      yIntersection = Int(min(N, S) - max(L, Q))
    }

    if ((xIntersection == 0) || (yIntersection == 0)) {
      areaIntersection = 0
    } else {
      areaIntersection = Int(xIntersection * yIntersection)
    }

    return (areaA + areaB - areaIntersection)
  }
}

// A simple test
Solution.computeArea(-4, 1, 2, 6, 0, -1, 4, 3) // returns 42