101.

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is denoted by l, and the coastline can be completely covered by n steps of the instrument. The length of the coastline (M) can be obtained by:

(5.1)

D is the Euclidean dimension of the measuring instrument. Figure 5.2a displays a portion of coastline being measured. Figures 5.2b and c show the coastline as measured by two different measuring instruments, a stick

Figure 5.2 (a) Measurement of the length of a coastline; (b) using a stick of length 1 unit; (c) using a box with side length I unit.

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