The symbol propto above denotes proportionality. This scaling rule typifies conventional rules about geometry and dimension – for lines, it quantifies that, because N=3 when epsilon=1/3 as in the example above, D=1, and for squares, because N=9 when epsilon=1/3, D=2.
A fractal contour of a koch snowflake
Figure 5. The first four iterations of the Koch snowflake, which has an approximate Hausdorff dimension of 1.2619.
The same rule applies to fractal geometry but less intuitively. To elaborate, a fractal line measured at first to be one length, when remeasured using a new stick scaled by 1/3 of the old may not be the expected 3 but instead 4 times as many scaled sticks long. In this case, N=4 when epsilon=1/3, and the value of D can be found by rearranging