How Long Is the Coast of Britain? (1967)

(jstor.org)

27 points | by Hooke 4 days ago ago

6 comments

  • 2b3a51 4 hours ago ago

    https://gsp.humboldt.edu/OLM/courses/GSP_510/Articles/Mandel...

    Link to a pdf file that you don't need an institutional login for.

    I did an activity in a basic maths class based on this paper years ago. Each student had an A3 map of the main island of the UK. Some set their compasses to 5cm radius and counted the number of radii around the island. Others tried 2.5cm, and 1cm and half a cm. Worked ok, good lesson.

  • paradox460 3 hours ago ago

    Infinitely long. You can't trick me with the coast paradox

    • _ache_ 32 minutes ago ago

      Actually ... Not infinitely long. You wont have a precise value since each measure can be increased by taking a smaller "step" or "ruler", but it won't be infinite.

    • theodric 33 minutes ago ago

      This guy* Mandelbrots

      *presumably, but maybe not

  • tiku 2 hours ago ago

    Depends on your measurements. If you measure with 1 cm it is longer than if measure with 10 cm.

  • ck2 33 minutes ago ago

    ah the coastline paradox

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coastline_paradox

    where the sampling rate affects distance measured

    this is also why the GPS on your watch will reports different distances the more frequently it samples, ie. once per second vs once per every few seconds, think curves becoming diagonal lines

    it's also why they measure official distances using a wheel on a stick