Artwork for Fractals for Kids: Why the Coastline of Britain Never Ends

Maths

Fractals for Kids: Why the Coastline of Britain Never Ends

Episode 827 9:30

In this episode

The story of fractals for kids: why the coast of Britain gets longer the shorter your ruler, and how Benoit Mandelbrot asked the coastline question in 1967.

• How Lewis Fry Richardson found two different lengths for the Spain and Portugal border
• Helge von Koch's 1904 snowflake, with an endless edge inside a circle
• Where fractals hide in ferns, broccoli, rivers and lightning
• Quiz questions to answer along the way

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