Why Experts Can’t Agree on the True Lengths of the World’s Coastlines | Mental Floss
▻http://mentalfloss.com/article/534742/why-experts-cant-agree-true-lengths-worlds-coastlines
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Measuring the distance between two places on a map is pretty straightforward. But if you want to calculate how long a shoreline is, things can get complicated. Just search “U.S. coastline length” and you’ll find that results can vary by tens of thousands of miles.
How can cartographers come up with numbers that differ so wildly if they’re all measuring the same thing? The answer, according to the video below from RealLifeLore, lies in a phenomenon called the Coastline Paradox.
#cartographie #côtes #mesure_du_monde #arpenteurs_de_la_terre