A4 paper is a bit magic

A piece of A4 paper is 210mm by 297mm. Who chose that and why isn't it a nice, neat 200mm by 300mm?

It's widely known that if you fold a piece of A4 paper you get two A5 sides, but have you ever realised they are the same shape with the same sides ratio too? It's a principle that applies no matter how many times you fold or duplicate it.

This isn't the way other rectangles work. 

Academics had been discussing the best paper size for 200 years until a German scientist came up with the A4 page in the early 1900s. It’s been the international standard (known as ISO 216) since 1975.

It uses a 1:√2 aspect ratio. This specific ratio ensures that when a sheet is folded in half, the resulting halves maintain the same proportions, facilitating consistent scaling across different paper sizes. If the long side measured 300mm, this wouldn’t happen.

Now you know why your photocopier can reduce an A4 page to half its size and print two smaller copies on the same page without any margin gaps (try doing that with Letter size and you'll see what we mean). The same is true for doubling an A4 - two of them make an A3, two of those make an A2 and so on.

FUN FACTS

Do you know an AO sheet is exactly one metre squared? 

And if you're wondering - it's true, you can only fold a piece of A4 paper in half seven times. But if you get a larger piece - of any proportions that’s a kilometre in length - then it can be folded up to 22 times. You can try that out with toilet paper if the whim takes you!

See Glide Print’s free Guide to Standard Paper Sizes for all A-series paper,
standard postcards and the most common brochure sizes. 

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Glide Print supply all design work from simple tasks like getting your artwork ready for print to creating complex documents such as annual reports and marketing packages. We work closely with our clients to make sure your branding is consistent and the print quality is excellent across all your products.

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