Comment by Lucasoato
13 hours ago
This article says that by using a smaller unit of measure, the measured coastline increases.
The concept of dimension in fractals is backed by a similar idea! Take the Koch curve for example, at any iteration it gets longer and its 1-dimensional length loses the usual meaning because it diverges to infinity as you continue iterating. Intuitively the fractal dimension allows you to calculate how fast the measurement increases as the scale to measure it gets smaller.
In a more precise way, for most self-similar fractal made of N copies of itself, each scaled by factor r, the dimension is defined as: D = log(N)/log(1/r)
In the case of Koch curve it’s 1.2619...
Indeed, the Wikipedia page on fractal dimension[1] uses the coastline paradox[2] as a leading example.
Relevant 3blue1brown (20 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB9n2gHsHN4
Mathematically, this is based on the assumption of the infinite and the continuous. However, quantum mechanics tells us that the world should be finite and discrete. Therefore, measuring the coastline of England naturally has nothing to do with limits. Of course, in practice, infinite measurement precision (not to mention the uncertainty principle) is impossible, so obtaining the "accurate" length of England's coastline—at least within the current framework of physics—is impossible, but that is another issue.
The meaning of "coastline" breaks down far before you reach quantum levels. I challenge you to go to the beach and pick a square inch where the "coastline" splits it half and half, this part England, that part the sea.