🚀 go-pugleaf

cline@cs.scarolina.edu (Ernest Cline) writes:

>|  - use ISO paper sizes (e.g. A4, C5, ...)

>However, what I would like to know is what size is A4 or C5 or the rest
>of these map references that ISO uses for paper.

As far as I know, these paper sizes are not only used by ISO, but by nearly
all countries on this world apart from North America and Japan.

The standard defines 3 geometric recurrencies of paper sizes: A, B and C.

All basic ISO sizes have a ratio of 1 : sqrt(2). This is the only format
with the following property: If you cut a piece of paper parallel to
the shorter side in 2 equal pieces, than you get the format
sqrt(2)/2 : 1 = 1 : sqrt(2). This is VERY useful if you work a lot
with copying machines that allow to zoom 2 pages on one etc.

The A0 format has an area of 1 square meter, A1 is 1/2 m^2, A2 is 1/4 m^2,
A3 is 1/8 m^2, ... and all have the same 1 : sqrt(2) format. The official
format definition is a table with lengths rounded to millimeters and
tolerance boundaries, but this design principle is at least explained
in the DIN standard (written around 1920) from which the ISO standard
has been derived about 20 years ago.

The B series consists of the geometric means between two A papers. This
has been introduced for applications where the steps between the A
papers are too big. The C papers are the geometric average between
an A paper and the next bigger B paper and are normally used for 
envelopes.

There are a few other definitions and perhaps I'll include a full list
of international paper sizes in the next comp.std.misc FAQ.

BTW: As a 10 year old boy, I discovered that all pieces of toilet
paper have the same format in Germany and many other European countries.
So there must have been a standard. I wondered, why they selected exactly
this format and I developped fascinating experiments for finding the
optimal toilet paper standard. And then I discovered, that 4 pieces of
toilet paper have the same format as an A4 paper => German toilet
paper is just A6 format! :-)

Happy new year!!!

Markus

-- 
Markus Kuhn, Computer Science student -=-=- University of Erlangen, Germany
Internet: mskuhn@immd4.informatik.uni-erlangen.de  |  X.500 entry available
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