Every day, each of us has to work with documents, letters, hold magazines in our hands, correspond or type documents in electronic form. Performing these routine tasks, we do not think about the size of the document that we see, but it’s interesting why it is exactly like this, and what does the well-known A4 size mean in general ?! Let's see what this format is.
A4 paper size
A4 is a well-known paper size adopted by the unified metric ISO-216 standards. The size of A4 in cm is 2129.7. It is quite simple to find out these values: all that is needed is a centimeter tape (ruler) and the sheet of paper itself. Well, why were these dimensions chosen and why such accuracy to millimeters - let's try to figure it out.
A bit of history
As you know, everything ingenious is simple! The A4 size was designed in such a way that if it is cut in half, you will get two halves that are identical in relation tooriginal size. For the original version, a canvas with an area of 1 square meter was taken (and if it’s absolutely accurate, then with sides of 118.9 centimeters (length)84.1 centimeters, and all known sizes are its derivatives, divided into a specific format. So, for example, if a sheet of A0 format is divided in half, then two sheets of A1 format will be obtained, etc. Thus, the size of an A4 sheet is half of an A3 sheet, with a constant aspect ratio, which is described by the Lichtenberg ratio.
In principle, at first glance, such an insignificant element of format standardization brought some certainty to life, which, of course, affected all stages of working with documentation. At the beginning of the last century, there were no uniform sizes for business documents, letters and papers. Each paper mill made paper sizes to its own specifications, which in turn created a 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 one to the square root of two, will have the size of 2 identical rectangles (if they are first folded in half). Another German mathematician (W. 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.
Application areas
OnToday there are many formats, and even their entire series. Some are used extremely rarely, while others are firmly embedded in our daily lives. Undoubtedly, the most popular is the A4 size. It is also called printer paper, office paper, plain or standard paper. But this does not mean that this size is used only in everyday life, on the contrary, it is he who is the standard for maintaining all types of reporting documentation, printing and typing. Moreover, professional printing companies most often also use the A4 format. The size of most forms, accounting documentation, scientific papers, etc. matches exactly this format.
Paper size and margins
Oddly enough, but in our time of high technology and computers, this area has the greatest impact on life in general and communication in particular. In addition, the lion's share of printed works are precisely electronic versions, and in A4 format. A4 sheet size is 210297 millimeters.
Please note that when working with computer typing programs, you must first check the paper size and margin settings, since even with the default setting there may be some discrepancies.
Installation and size of fields is regulated by GOST recommendations and must comply with the following values (minimum):
- left, top, bottom margins - 20 mm;
- right margin – 10 mm.
Standard photo frames
Frames appeared long beforethe photographs themselves. True, they had a slightly different purpose and served to demonstrate artistic works of art. They were made from all sorts of materials, from affordable wood to gold and framing with precious stones. Therefore, when the photo appeared, there were no problems with how it could be arranged. And in almost every house you could find more than one picture hanging on the wall or standing on the table in a beautiful frame.
With the development of the photography industry, frame making has developed and improved. Massive wooden and cast-iron products were replaced by light, refined and no less strong and durable products made of plastic, metal alloys, glass, and so on. Their production and use became more and more a mass phenomenon. But despite this, in every corner of the world the standards were the same. 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 Paper Standard (ISO) has a number of series (with subcategories in them) of generally standardized sizes. But the most popular format today is the A4 size. Printing of this particular format is supported by all standard printers without exception. A4 size (210297 cm) is a universal, standard and most commonly used document format, both physical (printed) and electronic versions. Knowing its parameters, you are always correct andyou can do any job correctly.
