Measure Path extension - Area result erroneous, depending on sub-path direction. (Also affects Center of Mass.)

Summary:

The Measure Path extension's Area feature will return differing results when sub-paths have different vector directions.

Steps to reproduce:

Made a 40mm x 40mm square having a 10mm x 10mm "hole" removed from its center. Run the Measure Path extension to calculate the area.

What happened?

The extension calculated the area properly (subtracting) when the inner sub path is reverse of the outer sub-path. The extension does not calculate the area properly when the inner sub path is the same direction of the outer sub-path (adding area).

What should have happened?

Regardless of sub-path direction, the extension should accurately calculate the bounded areas; intersecting areas should subtract, non-intersecting areas should add.

This issue directly affects Center of Mass calculations in the extension. Different path directions result in different CoM points.

Sample attachments:

Notes:

The attachment should be downloaded and opened in Inkscape to see the path directions via the node tool.

(I stumbled on this issue attempting to establish an Inkscape workflow for making "mobile" hanging sculptures. )

Version info

Inkscape 1.3.2 (091e20e, 2023-11-25, custom)

    GLib version:     2.78.1
    GTK version:      3.24.39
    glibmm version:   2.66.6
    gtkmm version:    3.24.8
    libxml2 version:  2.11.5
    libxslt version:  1.1.38
    Cairo version:    1.18.0
    Pango version:    1.50.14
    HarfBuzz version: 8.2.2

    OS version:       Windows 10 22H2