5 ms·

How Long Is the Coast of Britain? (1967)

34 points by Hooke 7mo ago

2b3a51 7mo ago
https://gsp.humboldt.edu/OLM/courses/GSP_510/Articles/Mandelbrot1967.pdf 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 7mo ago
Infinitely long. You can't trick me with the coast paradox
- theodric 7mo ago
  This guy* Mandelbrots *presumably, but maybe not
- _ache_ 7mo 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.
  - saghm 7mo ago
    Unbounded, at least. If you give me a measurement, I can give you a larger one that's more precise.
    - IAmBroom 7mo ago
      <cough> Planck length <cough>
twocommits 7mo ago
[flagged]
- 2b3a51 7mo ago
  There is a lot of coastline and not that many police/coastguards. In fact we have been closing down the coastguard stations since satellite tracking of commercial shipping became the norm. (I come from a part of the UK that was notorious for smuggling, wrecking and other forms of piracy).
  - gib444 7mo ago
    They're referring to the aslyum seekers (groan) 605 on 10 boats just 3 days ago... FWIW it's a political problem, not a defence problem.
tiku 7mo ago
Depends on your measurements. If you measure with 1 cm it is longer than if measure with 10 cm.
ck2 7mo ago
ah the coastline paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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

34 points by Hooke 7mo ago

https://gsp.humboldt.edu/OLM/courses/GSP_510/Articles/Mandelbrot1967.pdf 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 7mo ago

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

theodric 7mo ago
This guy* Mandelbrots *presumably, but maybe not
_ache_ 7mo 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.
- saghm 7mo ago
  Unbounded, at least. If you give me a measurement, I can give you a larger one that's more precise.
  - IAmBroom 7mo ago
    <cough> Planck length <cough>

twocommits 7mo ago

[flagged]

2b3a51 7mo ago
There is a lot of coastline and not that many police/coastguards. In fact we have been closing down the coastguard stations since satellite tracking of commercial shipping became the norm. (I come from a part of the UK that was notorious for smuggling, wrecking and other forms of piracy).
- gib444 7mo ago
  They're referring to the aslyum seekers (groan) 605 on 10 boats just 3 days ago... FWIW it's a political problem, not a defence problem.

tiku 7mo ago

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

ck2 7mo ago

ah the coastline paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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