1. Comments / 3 months ago 
    I saw this diagram about the international standard for paper sizes (ISO 216) and it suddenly clicked.  I thought the sizes in mm always looked quite arbitrary but it is all based on the square meter.  Once again, I find the US is off on its own with a standard that isn’t compatible with the rest of the world and based around some arbitrary unit. From Wikipedia: “The international paper size standard, ISO 216, is based on the German DIN 476 standard for paper sizes. ISO paper sizes are all based on a single aspect ratio of square root of 2, or approximately 1:1.4142. The base format is a sheet of paper measuring 1 m² in area (A0 paper size). Successive paper sizes in the series A1, A2, A3, and so forth, are defined by halving the preceding paper size. The most frequently used paper size is A4 (210 × 297 mm).”

    I saw this diagram about the international standard for paper sizes (ISO 216) and it suddenly clicked.  I thought the sizes in mm always looked quite arbitrary but it is all based on the square meter.  Once again, I find the US is off on its own with a standard that isn’t compatible with the rest of the world and based around some arbitrary unit.

    From Wikipedia:

    “The international paper size standard, ISO 216, is based on the German DIN 476 standard for paper sizes. ISO paper sizes are all based on a single aspect ratio of square root of 2, or approximately 1:1.4142. The base format is a sheet of paper measuring 1 m² in area (A0 paper size). Successive paper sizes in the series A1, A2, A3, and so forth, are defined by halving the preceding paper size. The most frequently used paper size is A4 (210 × 297 mm).”

     
avatar_128 American dude living in Germany who does photovoltaic & software engineering and whose biggest fear is normality.
 

Connect With Me

 

Contact Me

 
 

Navigate