What’s the fastest way of checking if a point is inside a polygon in python

I found two main methods to look if a point belongs inside a polygon. One is using the ray tracing method used here, which is the most recommended answer, the other is using matplotlib path.contains_points (which seems a bit obscure to me). I will have to check lots of points continuously. Does anybody know if any of these two is more recommendable than the other or if there are even better third options?

How to prevent numbers being changed to exponential form in Python matplotlib figure

I’m using Matplotlib in Python to plot simple x-y datasets. This produces nice-looking graphs, although when I “zoom in” too close on various sections of the plotted graph using the Figure View (which appears when you execute plt.show() ), the x-axis values change from standard number form (1050, 1060, 1070 etc.) to scientific form with exponential notation (e.g. 1, 1.5, 2.0 with the x-axis label given as +1.057e3).