Если кому-то нужна рабочая Python версия кода Matlab , отправленная Jonas выше.
import numpy as np
curve = [8.4663, 8.3457, 5.4507, 5.3275, 4.8305, 4.7895, 4.6889, 4.6833, 4.6819, 4.6542, 4.6501, 4.6287, 4.6162, 4.585, 4.5535, 4.5134, 4.474, 4.4089, 4.3797, 4.3494, 4.3268, 4.3218, 4.3206, 4.3206, 4.3203, 4.2975, 4.2864, 4.2821, 4.2544, 4.2288, 4.2281, 4.2265, 4.2226, 4.2206, 4.2146, 4.2144, 4.2114, 4.1923, 4.19, 4.1894, 4.1785, 4.178, 4.1694, 4.1694, 4.1694, 4.1556, 4.1498, 4.1498, 4.1357, 4.1222, 4.1222, 4.1217, 4.1192, 4.1178, 4.1139, 4.1135, 4.1125, 4.1035, 4.1025, 4.1023, 4.0971, 4.0969, 4.0915, 4.0915, 4.0914, 4.0836, 4.0804, 4.0803, 4.0722, 4.065, 4.065, 4.0649, 4.0644, 4.0637, 4.0616, 4.0616, 4.061, 4.0572, 4.0563, 4.056, 4.0545, 4.0545, 4.0522, 4.0519, 4.0514, 4.0484, 4.0467, 4.0463, 4.0422, 4.0392, 4.0388, 4.0385, 4.0385, 4.0383, 4.038, 4.0379, 4.0375, 4.0364, 4.0353, 4.0344]
nPoints = len(curve)
allCoord = np.vstack((range(nPoints), curve)).T
np.array([range(nPoints), curve])
firstPoint = allCoord[0]
lineVec = allCoord[-1] - allCoord[0]
lineVecNorm = lineVec / np.sqrt(np.sum(lineVec**2))
vecFromFirst = allCoord - firstPoint
scalarProduct = np.sum(vecFromFirst * np.matlib.repmat(lineVecNorm, nPoints, 1), axis=1)
vecFromFirstParallel = np.outer(scalarProduct, lineVecNorm)
vecToLine = vecFromFirst - vecFromFirstParallel
distToLine = np.sqrt(np.sum(vecToLine ** 2, axis=1))
idxOfBestPoint = np.argmax(distToLine)