What is the exact length of Australia's coastline?
This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try
refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and,
finally, (c)
loading the
non-javascript version of this page
. We're sorry about the hassle.
A fractal is by definition a curve whose complexity changes with measurement scale. Whereas approximations of a smooth curve get closer and closer to a single value as measurement precision increases, the measured value of fractals may change wildly. The length of a "true fractal" always diverges to infinity. However, this figure relies on the assumption that space can be subdivided indefinitely. The truth value of this assumption—which underlies Euclidean geometry and serves as a useful model in everyday measurement—is a matter of philosophical speculation, and may or may not reflect the changing realities of 'space' and 'distance' on the atomic level.