[Matplotlib-users] find the projected distance between two curves

[G. A. <gio...@gm...>]

Hello list,
I'm completely new to matplotlib and I'm not a computer scientist (not
a good starting point!) but I need to solve a geometric/graphical
problem.
I've been asked to find a method, in Python, to find the distance
between a 2D polynomial curve, derived from least squares
interpolation on a set of points, and a curve locallly interpolating
another set of points.

 - the starting line is a smooth line, while the second should
describe a path passing exactly thorugh the given points.
 - the distance should be the one along the normal to the first line

I attach a sketch to explain this.

Is there an heuristic, an algorithm, to solve this problem in an
efficient way (I have to apply it to thousands couples of sets from
sonar and seismic acquisitions)? Is the mapltolip API useful for this?

Thanks in advance,
Giovanni