By one (rather odd) measure, NH is the most rugged state

This reddit post (here) does the following:

Assume all states are perfect two-dimensional circles. The Effective State Gradient is prescribed by dividing the difference between the measured highest-to-lowest point of the state by by the radius of the circle whose area is equivalent to the total land area of that state.

By that odd metric (with a whiff of spherical cow modeling), New Hampshire is the most rugged state in the lower 48. Only Hawaii has a bigger gradient, claims the posting, although it oddly doesn’t rank Alaska at all.

What this actually means is … I’m not sure what, if anything. But New Hampshire is No. 1!