Calculate the Overlapping Area Between Two Rectangles in Python

Program Overview

This Python program reads the coordinates of two rectangles from the user.
Each rectangle is defined by two opposite corners (as floating-point pairs).
The program calculates the area of the overlapping region between the two rectangles.
If there is no overlap, the result will be zero.

Python Code:

def intersection_area(r1, r2):
    x_overlap = max(0, min(r1['x2'], r2['x2']) - max(r1['x1'], r2['x1']))
    y_overlap = max(0, min(r1['y2'], r2['y2']) - max(r1['y1'], r2['y1']))
    return x_overlap * y_overlap

# Input for rectangle 1
print("Rectangle 1:")
x1, y1 = map(float, input("First point (x y): ").split())
x2, y2 = map(float, input("Second point (x y): ").split())
r1 = {'x1': min(x1, x2), 'y1': min(y1, y2), 'x2': max(x1, x2), 'y2': max(y1, y2)}

# Input for rectangle 2
print("Rectangle 2:")
x3, y3 = map(float, input("First point (x y): ").split())
x4, y4 = map(float, input("Second point (x y): ").split())
r2 = {'x1': min(x3, x4), 'y1': min(y3, y4), 'x2': max(x3, x4), 'y2': max(y3, y4)}

# Calculate intersection area
area = intersection_area(r1, r2)
print(f"Overlapping area: {area}")

Sample Output:

Rectangle 1:
First point (x y): 1 1  
Second point (x y): 5 5  

Rectangle 2:
First point (x y): 3 3  
Second point (x y): 6 6  

Overlapping area: 4.0

Step-by-Step Explanation:

- Each rectangle is normalized so that x1 < x2 and y1 < y2
- The horizontal and vertical overlap is calculated using min and max
- If the rectangles do not intersect, the overlap dimensions become zero
- The final area is the product of the overlapping width and height