Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/07/28/sierra-leone-is-the-roundest-c.html
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Sierra Leone is the roundest country
That’s the least of their problems.
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Interesting findings, considering in This ranking of countries by rectangularness, Sierra Leone is 14th, and the 2nd roundest (Nauru) is the 10th most rectangular.
What about the roundest citizens?
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That would be Nauru.
Pretty round in the round, too. In fact, it looks rounder than Sierra Leone to my unpracticed eye. Maybe the fix was in here as well.
But they do have Kelvin Doe! He’s an awesome lil’ dude.
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O snap! I thought it was going to be France again this year.
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Their roundness formula (more or less) says:
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A given shape “matches” a given circle inasmuch as the area inside the circle is inside the shape, and the area outside the circle is outside the shape.
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To find the roundness of a shape, find the circle it best matches; the better the match, the rounder the shape.
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So did they just use the total percent of area inside the circle, or did they combine the area outside and the missing area inside in that formula in the article?
My stats-brain doesn’t have a stats-upbringing, so analytic work involves translating from English to regular formulas and joins. if you can’t type it in a query then it doesn’t bother settling into my bran. (yes, this means I bug the actuaries sometimes, but the important stuff sinks in as needed)
My thought process would be you’d want to calculate the smallest percentage of [missing inside + extra outside] vs the size of the circle, and use the version of that equation that gives the best results to generate your ratio. Is that about what they did?
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They used overlap ÷ max( area(shape), area(circle) ) .
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Oh, duh, that way you can create exactly the same ratio in the end, and my way kind of had an extra step in it.
I haven’t had my caffeine yet. 
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I believe France is a hexagon.
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France was 156th
All those overseas departments spoil things.
I think that the United Kingdom is the most spherical though.
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That is so damn unfair! I am lodging a complaint with the International Roundness Committee.
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It’s been going round in circles for decades so it makes perfect sense.
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Thanks Sudetenland for ruining our ranking!
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FTFY
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I gave you three likes for making me groan, but it seems only one counted.
Well done, sir!
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If no one’s asked it yet, I will: so who’s the squarest country?
I’m not asking what countries are the squarest. We already know that.
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