CentralNotice From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation , search 11.5 x 200 = 2300 km 28 x 100 = 2800 km 70 x 50 = 3500 km Figure 1. As the length of the measuring stick is scaled smaller and smaller, the total length of the coastline measured increases. A fractal dimension is a ratio providing a statistical index of complexity comparing how detail in a pattern (strictly speaking, a fractal pattern) changes with the scale at which it is measured. It has also been characterized as a measure of the space-filling capacity of a pattern that tells how a fractal scales differently from the space it is embedded in; a fractal dimension does not have to be an integer. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] The essential idea of "fractured" dimensions has a long history in mathematics, but the term itself was brought to the fore by Benoit Mandelbrot based on his 196...