How to Implement IEqualityComparer<PointF> With Tolerance

c#, iequalitycomparer

Solution

Instead of defining the tolerance by the distance, you could place the points in a grid. If two points are in the same cell, they're considered equal and have the same hash code.

public bool Equals(PointF pt1, PointF pt2)
{
   return GetCell(pt1.X) == GetCell(pt2.X)
       && GetCell(pt1.Y) == GetCell(pt2.Y);
}

public int GetHashCode(PointF pt)
{
   return GetCell(pt.X) ^ GetCell(pt.Y);
}

private static int GetCell(float f)
{
    return (int)(f / 10); // cell size is 10 pixels
}

Thesis: There is no implementation of `Equals` and `GetHashCode` that meets your requirements.

Proof: Consider the following three points, A, B, and C:

As per your requirements,

Equals(A, B) == true              // (i)
Equals(B, C) == true              // (ii)
Equals(A, C) == false             // (iii)
GetHashCode(A) == GetHashCode(B)  // (iv)
GetHashCode(B) == GetHashCode(C)  // (v)
GetHashCode(A) != GetHashCode(C)  // (vi)

But from (iv) and (v) follows

GetHashCode(A) == GetHashCode(C)

and thereby

Equals(A, C) == true

which contradicts (iii) and (vi).

Since `Equals` and `GetHashCode` cannot return different values for the same arguments, there is no implementation that meets your requirements. q.e.d.

Problem

This question is similar to the one here. We all know what PointF is, don't we? This is the data structure: ``` public struct PointF { public float X; public float Y; } ``` How to implement `IEqualityComparer<PointF>` with tolerance? Let's say my `Equals` code is like this ``` public const float Epsilon = 0.01; //say public bool Equals(PointF pt1, PointF pt2) { return Math.Abs(pt1.X-pt2.X)<Epsilon && Math.Abs(pt1.Y-pt2.Y)<Epsilon; } ``` Question: How to implement the correct `GetHashCode` so that for a dictionary of `PointF`, I will access the element correctly? I crack my head a few days but still can't find a satisfactory solution.

Original source

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