Pointin

Pointin is a term that may be encountered in mathematics, computer science, and software naming, but it does not denote a single, universally defined concept. It often appears as part of compound terms such as "point-in" used to describe tests or operations involving the position of a point relative to a geometric region.

In geometry and computational geometry, "point-in" problems ask whether a given point is inside, on, or outside a region such as a polygon, circle, or polygon with holes. Classic methods include ray casting, the winding number, and plane-sweep algorithms. The phrase "point-in" is commonly used in algorithm descriptions and problem statements.

In programming and software libraries, "pointIn" or "PointIn" is frequently used as a function or method name, for example pointInPolygon(point, polygon) that returns a boolean. It may also be part of APIs for spatial indexing or GIS tools. Naming conventions vary by language and library, with some using camelCase, others snake_case or PascalCase.

Etymology and usage notes that the component "point" + "in" suggests membership or containment, but without capitalization, "pointin" is not standard English; in code and documentation it often appears as "PointIn" or "Point-in." Some tutorials or domain-specific texts may coin "pointin" as a shorthand term to simplify searches or discussions.

See also: point-in-polygon problem, point-in-circle algorithms, spatial query, computational geometry, GIS.