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Paper SizeThere have been many standard sizes of paper at different times and in different countries. International paper sizes International standard paper sizes are now used in all countries except the United States, Canada, and some South American countries. The international standard is ISO 216, which defines amongst others, A4. ISO paper sizes are all based on a single aspect ratio of the square root of two, 1:1.4142. Basing paper upon this ratio was conceived by Georg Lichtenberg in the eighteenth century, made law in Germany in the 1920s, but did not reach its culmination until the prevalence of photocopy machines from the 1960s made having all paper with the same aspect ratio far more convenient in scaling than any other system. The largest standard size, A0, has an area of 1 m. A1 is formed by cutting a piece of A0 in half, which retains the aspect ratio. This particular measurement system was chosen in order to allow folding of one standard size into another, which cannot be accomplished with traditional paper sizes. Brochures are made by using material at the next size up i.e. material at A3 is folded to make A4 brochures. Similarly, material at A4 is folded to make A5 brochures. It also allows scaling without loss of image from one size to another. Thus an A4 page can be enlarged to A3 and retain the exact proportions of the original document. Office photocopiers in countries that use ISO 216 paper often have one tray filled with A4 and another filled with A3. A simple method is usually provided (e.g. one button press) to enlarge A4 to A3 or reduce A3 to A4. Thus an A4 brochure when open is A3 and can be placed on the copier and either printed directly onto the A3 paper or reduced to A4. The ISO B series is a scaling of the A series; B1 is half way between A0 and A1 in area. The C series is half way between the A and B series of the same number; for instance, C0 is half way between A0 and B0. This way, C0 is slightly larger than A0, and B0 slightly larger than C0. This was intended to allow one to fit inside an envelope of the other. For instance, a letter written on A4 paper, the standard for this role, fits inside a C4 envelope. A C4 envelope can fit inside a B4 envelope. The scalability also means that less paper (and hence money) is wasted by printing companies. The measurements in millimetres are more appropriate for determining the aspect ratio of paper than the less-accurate measurement of book sizes in centimetres. However, there is a tolerance factor that lengths of paper less than 150 mm can have plus-or-minus 1.5 mm and still qualify for the size designation. Lengths from 150 to 600 mm can have plus-or-minus 2 mm, while those over 600 can have plus-or-minus 3 mm. ISO 216 does not define any sizes larger than A0 and B0, but the German standard DIN 476 puts a factor in front of these. Thus paper designated 2A0 is twice the size of A0, while 4A0 is four times A0. Although A4 is the standard size in the rest of the world, it doesn't fit in US three-ring binders (and there is a different standard for hole-punched binders to go with the international papers as well). However, the rarer E5 paper is less than a millimetre taller than US Letter size, though it is about five-eighths of an inch narrower. Photocopies from A4 to E5 are simply reduced to 95%, while from E5 to A4 increased to 105%. And notice that, as A4 is the standard size for international firms, their web sites (such as that of ISO itself) are designed to be printed on such paper of greater length. Printing them out without adjustment, on US Letter-size paper, prints the bottom of the page on a second sheet. mm)> | !!A- !! B- !! C- !! D- !! E- | | -0 | 841 1189 | 1000 1414 | 917 1297 | | | -1 | 594 841 | 707 1000 | 648 917 | 545 771 | | | -2 | 420 594 | 500 707 | 458 648 | 385 545 | | | -3 | 297 420 | 353 500 | 324 458 | 272 385 | 400 560 | | -4 | 210 297 | 250 353 | 229 324 | 192 272 | 280 400 | | -5 | 148 210 | 176 250 | 162 229 | 136 192 | 200 280 | | -6 | 105 148 | 125 176 | 114 162 | 96 136 | 140 200 | | -7 | 74 105 | 88 125 | 81 114 | 68 96 | | | -8 | 52 74 | 62 88 | 57 81 | | | -9 | 37 52 | 44 62 | 40 57 | | | -10 | 26 37 | 31 44 | 28 40 | rounded inch values)> | !!A- !! B- !! C- | | -0 | 33 46 | 39 55 | 36 51 | | -1 | 23 33 | 27 39 | 25 36 | | -2 | 16 23 | 19 27 | 18 25 | | -3 | 11 16 | 14 19 | 12 18 | | -4 | 8 11 | 9 14 | 9 12 | | -5 | 5 8 | 7 9 | 6 9 | | -6 | 4 5 | 5 7 | 4 6 | | -7 | 3 4 | 3 5 | 3 4 | | -8 | 2 3 | 2 3 | 2 3 | | -9 | 1 2 | 1 2 | 1 2 | | -10 | 1 1 | 1 1 | 1 1 | Traditional paper sizes Traditionally, a number of different sizes were defined for large sheets of paper, and paper sizes were defined by the sheet name and the number of times it had been folded. Thus a full sheet of "Royal" paper was 25 20 inches, and "Royal Octavo" was this size folded 3 times, so as to make eight sheets, and was thus 10 by 6 inches. Imperial sizes were used in the United Kingdom and its territories. Some of the base sizes were as follows (all in inches): | mperial !! US !! mm !! Ratio | | mperor | 72 48 | 1829 1219 | 1.5 | | ntiquarian | 53 31 | 1346 787 | 1.7097 | | rand Eagle | 42 28 | 1067 730 | 1.4609 | | olombier | 34 23 | 876 597 | 1.4681 | | tlas | 34 26 | 34 26 | 864 660 | 1.3077 | | mperial | 30 22 | 30 22 | 762 559 | 1.3636 | | inched Post | 28 14 | 724 375 | 1.9322 | | lephant | 28 23 | 28 23 | 711 584 | 1.2174 | | rincess | 28 21 | 711 546 | 1.3023 | | artridge | 26 21 | 660 533 | 1.2381 | | oyal | 25 20 | 25 20 | 635 508 | 1.25 | | heet and Half Post | 23 19 | 597 495 | 1.2051 | | edium | 23 18 | 23 18 | 584 457 | 1.2778 | | emy | 22 17 | 22 17 | 572 445 | 1.2857 | | owspan="2"|Large Post | 21 16 | 533 419 | 1.2727 | | 0 15 | 508 394 | 1.2903 | | opy Draught | 20 16 | 508 406 | 1.25 | | rown | 20 15 | 20 15 | 508 381 | 1.3333 | | ost | 19 15 | 20 15 | 489 394 | 1.2419 | | oolscap | 17 13 | 17 13 | 432 343 | 1.2593 | | mall Foolscap | 16 13 | 419 337 | 1.2453 | | rief | 16 13 | 406 343 | 1.1852 | | ott | 15 12 | 381 318 | 1.2 | The common divisions and their abbreviations include: | Name(s) !! Abbr. !! Folds !! Pages | | Folio | fo/f | 1 | 2 | | Quarto | 4to | 2 | 4 | | Sexto or Sixmo | 6to/6mo | 3 | 6 | | Octavo | 8vo | 3 | 8 | | Duodecimo or Twelvemo | 12mo | 4 | 12 | | Sextodecimo or Sixteenmo | 16mo | 4 | 16 | Foolscap Folio is often referred to simply as 'Folio' or 'Foolscap'. Similarly, 'Quarto' is more correctly 'Copy Draught Quarto'. Many of these sizes were only used for making books (see bookbinding), and would never have been offered for ordinary stationery purposes. Current U.S. paper sizes Current standard sizes of U.S. paper are a subset of the traditional sizes referred to above. Letter, legal, and ledger/tabloid are by far the most commonly used of these for everyday activities. There is an additional paper size to which the name "government-letter" was given by the IEEE Printer Working Group: the 8-by-10 inch paper that is used in America for children's writing and was prescribed by Herbert Hoover when he was Secretary of Commerce to be used for U.S. governmental forms. Apparently this would enable discounts from purchase of paper for schools. As photocopy machines later proliferated, citizens wanted to make photocopies of the forms, but as the machines did not generally have this size paper in their bins, they could not do so, thus Ronald Reagan had the U.S. government switch to letter size. 8" 10" is still commonly used in spiral-bound notebooks and the like. US paper sizes are currently standard in the United States, Canada and Mexico. See switch costs, network effects and standardization for possible reasons for differing regional adoption rates of the ISO standard sizes. A related phenomenon may be the QWERTY keyboard layout, among other examples. | Inches !! mm !! Ratio | | uarto | 10 8 | 254 203 | 1.25 | | oolscap | 13 8 | 330 203 | 1.625 | | xecutive | 10 7 | 267 184 | 1.4483 | | overnment-Letter | 10 8 | 267 203 | 1.3125 | | etter | 11 8 | 279 216 | 1.2941 | | egal | 14 8 | 356 216 | 1.6471 | | edger, Tabloid | 17 11 | 432 279 | 1.5455 | | ost | 19 15 | 489 394 | 1.2419 | | rown | 20 15 | 508 381 | 1.3333 | | arge Post | 21 16 | 533 419 | 1.2727 | | emy | 22 17 | 572 445 | 1.2857 | | edium | 23 18 | 584 457 | 1.2778 | | oyal | 25 20 | 635 508 | 1.25 | | lephant | 28 23 | 711 584 | 1.2174 | | ouble Demy | 35 23 | 889 597 | 1.4894 | | uad Demy | 45 35 | 1143 889 | 1.2857 | | TMT | 8 5 | 216 140 | 1.5455 | | 11 8 | 279 216 | 1.2941 | | 17 11 | 432 279 | 1.5455 | | |22 17 || 559 432 || 1.2941 | | |34 22 || 864 559 || 1.5455 | | |44 34 ||1118 864 || 1.2941 | See also External links
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