Every day, each of us has to work with documents, letters, hold magazines, keep correspondence or type documents in electronic form. Carrying out these routine tasks, we don’t think about the size of the document that we see, but it’s interesting why it is so, and what does the well-known A4 size mean ?! Let's see what this format is.
A4 paper size
A4 is a well-known paper format adopted by the unified metric standards ISO-216. Size A4 in cm is 21 * 29.7. To find out these values is quite simple: all that is needed is a centimeter tape (ruler) and the sheet of paper itself. Well, why these sizes were chosen and why such accuracy to millimeters - let's try to figure it out.
A bit of history
As you know, all ingenious is simple! A4 size was designed in such a way that if it is cut in half, then you get two halves that are identical in relation to the original size. For the original version, a canvas with an area of 1 square meter was taken (and if absolutely precisely, then with sides 118.9 centimeters (length) * 84.1 centimeters, and all known sizes are its derivatives, divided into a specific format. So, for example, if you divide a sheet of format A0 in half, then you get two sheets of format A1, etc. Thus, the size of sheet A4 is half of sheet A3, with a constant aspect ratio, which is described by the Lichtenberg ratio.
In principle, at first glance, such an insignificant element of standardization of formats brought some certainty to life, which, of course, affected all stages of work with documentation. At the beginning of the last century, there were no uniform sizes for business documents, letters and papers. Each factory specializing in the production of paper made its size at its discretion, and this, in turn, introduced significant inconvenience to the daily circulation of documents.
In 1768, G. Lichtenberg (a German scientist) suggested that a sheet of paper, the aspect ratio of which can be represented as the ratio of a unit to the square root of two, will have the size of 2 identical rectangles (if they are pre-folded in half). Another German mathematician (V. Portsmann), based on this idea, proposed it as a basis for standardizing paper size. And a few years later, all of Europe, and a little later, the whole world switched to uniform standards.
Fields of application
Today, there are many formats, and even whole series of them. Some are rarely used, while others are firmly rooted in our daily lives. Undoubtedly, the most popular is the A4 size. It is also called printer paper, office paper, plain or standard. But this does not mean that this size is used only in everyday life, on the contrary, it is it that is standard for all types of reporting documentation, printing and typing. Moreover, professional printing companies most often also use the A4 format. The size of most forms, records, scientific papers, etc. corresponds to this particular format.
Paper and Margin Size
Oddly enough, but in our time of high technology and computers, it is this area that has the greatest impact on life in general and communication in particular. In addition, the lion's share of printed works is made up of electronic versions, moreover in A4 format. A4 sheet size is 210 * 297 millimeters.
Keep in mind that when working with computer programs for typing, you must first check the paper size and margin size settings, because even with the default setting, there may be some discrepancies.
The installation and size of the fields is governed by GOST recommendations and must comply with the following values (minimum):
- left, upper, lower margins - 20 mm;
- the right margin is 10 mm.
Standard photo frames
Frames appeared long before the photographs themselves. True, they had a slightly different purpose and served to demonstrate artistic works of art. They were made of all kinds of materials - from affordable wood to gold and framing with precious stones. Therefore, when the photo appeared, there were no problems with how it can be designed. And in almost every house you could meet more than one picture hanging on the wall or standing on the table in a beautiful frame.
With the development of the photography industry, the manufacture of frames has evolved and improved. Massive wood and cast iron were replaced by light, refined, and no less strong and durable products from plastic, metal alloys, glass, etc. Their manufacture and use became an increasingly widespread phenomenon. But despite this, the standards were the same in every corner of the world. So, the dimensions of the A4 frame correspond to the size of the canvas of the same format with some tolerance and can be in two versions: 20 cm by 30 cm and 21 cm by 30 cm.
Conclusion
The well-known International Standard for Paper (ISO) has a number of series (with subcategories in them) of standardized sizes. But the most popular format today is A4 size. Printing of this particular format is supported by all standard printers, without exception. A4 size (210 * 297 cm) is a universal, standard and most frequently used document format, both physical (printed) and electronic versions. Knowing its parameters, you can always correctly and correctly perform any work.