The Coastline Paradox

Look up for the length of any coastline and you'll never find one single value. Why is that? Watch to find out!
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[ethanleonard]

You can use travel method limitations to know where to stop measuring. Naturally, you don't have to step *around* traces of pebbles, so you can use an average length of a human step as a minimum measuring length. In most cases though, it would make more sense to use roads, which are much simpler curves and are more practical in this sense.

This is actually no different than any curve, just that coastlines really are much more complex shapes.

[GhayelRubio]

That's same with circle, does Circle have infinite side or finite 🤔

[vampryer]

But couldn’t you use some form of calculus and the concept of series to find out a value to a certain scale? Like for example, at a scale of 1 mile (1 mile increments) the coastline is some value, then at a scale of a meter it’s another, ect? I’m not sure. I’ll come back to this in university.

[hyugaasahi]

This might sound a bit flexible or weird, but why don't we make a function of it and integrate it

[SidhantJhangta-yzxk]

Can we do this with this with calculus🤔

[astodome]

Use limit and write coastline as equaltions 😂😂

[xxtoxicxx]

Ara bhai function variable hai tum sigma laga rahe ho itegreate karo😤

[Snnergy]

I feel like this channel needs to be stopped from further spreading misinformation.

The coastline paradox doesn't say that it's *impossible* to measure a coastline, but rather that the length is *variable* and dependent on the measurement method and scale. It's not that you can't measure it, but that the length you come up with changes based on how detailed your measurement is.

If you use larger units (like kilometers), you're smoothing out the smaller features of the coastline, leading to a shorter length. On the other hand, if you use smaller units (like meters or even centimeters), you capture more of the coastline's complexity and irregularities, resulting in a longer measurement. As you decrease the unit size, the length can keep increasing, theoretically without limit.

In short, the paradox highlights that *the concept of a "true" coastline length is elusive* because the natural world is complex and doesn’t conform to simple geometric shapes. It's not impossible to measure, but the measurement is always influenced by the scale you're working with.

[niharteraho]

Or should we just call it fractals (coastline fractals)