[HN Gopher] Coastline paradox
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       Coastline paradox
        
       Author : scrlk
       Score  : 33 points
       Date   : 2023-12-30 14:18 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | bigyikes wrote:
       | Step 1: Acquire small beachfront property
       | 
       | Step 2: Put property on the market, listed as having a mile of
       | beach
       | 
       | Step 3: ???
       | 
       | Step 4: Profit
       | 
       | There's no way this could backfire, unless the buyer asks how big
       | your ruler is. But a true gentleman never questions the size of
       | another's ruler, so you should be in the clear.
        
         | dmoy wrote:
         | > There's no way this could backfire, unless the buyer asks how
         | big your ruler is.
         | 
         | Or it goes through a real world court system where judges take
         | very dim views to that level of pedantry...
        
       | dang wrote:
       | Related:
       | 
       |  _Coastline Paradox_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24437749 - Sept 2020 (32
       | comments)
       | 
       |  _Coastline Paradox_ -
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21214958 - Oct 2019 (1
       | comment)
        
       | justinl33 wrote:
       | Next time you go to measure your waistline, just remember: have
       | you really put on weight, or is it just the coastline paradox?
        
         | margalabargala wrote:
         | This unfortunately doesn't quite work, because while there's no
         | well defined upper bound, there is a lower bound.
        
       | n_plus_1_acc wrote:
       | It also imples that any border between countries that is defined
       | by a natural border, eg a river is infinitely long, right?
        
       | umanwizard wrote:
       | The coastline paradox relies on the assumption that the coast is
       | equally "jagged" at all levels. Is this actually true? I mean, if
       | I go to the beach and look at the line where the water meets the
       | land it doesn't really seem like a fractal to me.
       | 
       | The outer boundary of land masses gets smoothed out by erosion
       | from the water, right?
        
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       (page generated 2023-12-30 23:00 UTC)