Why real travel routes are never straight
Real-world travel routes always exceed the theoretical straight-line distance, revealing how geography and infrastructure inevitably shape our journeys.
The straight-line distance between two points, known as the Euclidean distance, is a theoretical ideal. Named after ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, it's the shortest path on a flat plane. However, real-world travel, whether by car or plane, almost always covers more ground than this 'as the crow flies' measurement.
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