3 ms·
The longest path needs to start and end somewhere along a great circle. So those individual points are needed.
by Luc 8y ago
The longest path needs to start and end somewhere along a great circle. So those individual points are needed.
- larkeith 8y agoThe only relevant points are those that make up the coastlines - there is no need to test paths that start and/or end in the middle of sea or land.
- Luc 8y agoOh I see what you mean. Yes, I suppose it is worded that way to impress the reader with the big numbers involved, when many of them can be trivially rejected.
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoCoastlines are close to infinite in length (they grow inversely to the length of the measure used; idealised mathematical 'coastlines' are fractal and infinite), we can limit them by limiting the resolution.