Eli5 why the coastline paradox is a paradox?
In: 1301
It’s related to Zeno’s Dichotomy (halves) paradox. If you are going from point a to point b, you must pass through the halfway point at point c. When you’re at c, you must get to the new halfway point at point d. When you’re at d, you must get to the new halfway point at point e. There will always be a halfway point between wherever you are and where you want to get to, so you can never actually get to point b as there must always be another point in between you and point b.
We can never know how long a coastline is because there is always a more accurate measurement possible. Best we can do is give a range of possible lengths, and you can get that to infinitesimally small numbers… but never 0.
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