(The off-tangent room is here…Rulers?)
A4 is the standard Paper Size in most of the world
In Japan A1 is the size of a newspaper.
Using these ISO sizes is nice because the sizes can be halved or doubled easily with no waste of paper. The ratio is 1:√2
https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.html
| A0 | 841 x 1189 | B0 | 1030 x 1456 |
| A1 | 594 x 841 | B1 | 728 x 1030 |
| A2 | 420 x 594 | B2 | 515 x 728 |
| A3 | 297 x 420 | B3 | 364 x 515 |
| A4 | 210 x 297 | B4 | 257 x 364 |
| A5 | 148 x 210 | B5 | 182 x 257 |
| A6 | 105 x 148 | B6 | 128 x 182 |
The ISO paper series A and B make sense.
A0 or B0 are the parent sizes. Each number take the paper size and cuts it in half.
So two A1 sheets equal A0. Two A2 sheets equal 1 A1.
In the practical size arena, A4 is the normal size for most documents, and A3 would be twice that size. Making it easy to make larger or smaller copies on the copier. Most copy machines (outside of the US) it is common to have A4 and A3 paper and possibly even A5 paper too.
Japan is familiar with the B size paper and most of my notes are on B5 size paper.
What about the US? Letter and Legal? How is this even still convenient. US uses random sizes called Letter, Legal, and Ledger.
The copy tray does not include larger paper for making increased size images such as is possible in the rest of the world.
As an American who only knew about Letter and Legal, my first experience with the ISO standard was one of frustration. Now that I have more experience, I rather enjoy these sensible sizes that have been thought out.
Take a listen to hear more.
Listen to “Day226 Paper Sizes – A4, B4, Letter, Legal, What's the difference?” on Spreaker.