CentralNotice From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search An example of the coastline paradox. If the coastline of Great Britain is measured using units 100 km (62 mi) long, then the length of the coastline is approximately 2,800 km (1,700 mi). With 50 km (31 mi) units, the total length is approximately 3,400 km (2,100 mi), approximately 600 km (370 mi) longer. The coastline paradox is the counterintuitive observation that the coastline of a landmass does not have a well-defined length. This results from the fractal -like properties of coastlines, i.e., the fact that a coastline typically has a fractal dimension (which in fact makes the notion of length inapplicable). The first recorded observation of this phenomenon was by Lewis Fry Richardson [1] and it was expanded upon by Benoit Mandelbrot . [2] The measured length of the coastline de...