"Joseph B. Reid" wrote:
>
> Jim Frysimger surprised me with his USMA 22457:
> >
> > A4 paper is no more or less metric than US Letter paper, except in its
> >underlying design origins. When I set A4 in my StarOffice 6.0, I am
> >formatting paper that is 210 mm by 297 mm. When I set US Letter in my
> >StarOffice 6.0, I am formatting paper that is 215.9 mm by 279.4 mm.
> >Paper sizes can easily vary by as much as a millimeter in either
> >direction from one manufacturer to another (likewise a millimeter plus
> >or minus due to humidity changes!), so we can just as easily call US
> >Letter paper 216 mm by 279 mm. Or, even, 215 mm by 280 mm. If we used
> >the latter size specifications, U.S. companies would not have to go out
> >and buy new binders, folders, notebooks, filing cabinets, and bookcases.
> >And 215 mm by 280 mm sure seems to have a nice, rational metric ring to
> >it! In terms of street talk, it can be called "twenty-one and a half by
> >twenty-eight paper", if not U.S. Letter paper. Since this size is the
> >prevalent size up and down North and South America, it's sure to catch
> >on while sounding niftily metric.
> >
>
> A4 is *defined* as 210 mm X 297 mm. American quarto is *defined* as
> 8,5 in. X 11 in. A0 is *defined* as having an area of 1 square
> metre. What is the area of the corresponding American sheet size?
The area of US Letter size paper is
215.9 mm x 279.4 mm = 0.060 322 46 m2
and the size of A4 is
210 mm x 297 mm = 0.062 370 0 m2
which I'm sure you already knew. In that case, you also are aware that
neither paper size has a one-surface area of (1/16) m2, which is the
"basis" for the A4 definition. If they did, their areas would be
0.062 500 m2.
My propose new size for US Letter paper would have an area of a neat
0.062 000 m2.
My point was, and remains, that while the current US Letter size has its
origins in non-SI units and A4 has its origins in SI units, with only a
very small change in specifications, Americans can use US Letter paper
that is apparently the same size (to the casual observer) but a size
that can be expressed neatly in "round" numbers. An alternative, slangy
way to describe it would be as "two fifteen by two eighty paper". By the
way, I misread my screen earlier and US Letter size is 215.9 mm wide and
not 216.9 mm wide. Even less of a change than I stated before would be
required.
To most people (i.e., those not sensitive to enlargement and reduction
issues), that's a low cost solution since nobody would have to replace
notebooks, folders, filing cabinets, or bookcases. Most home and office
printing and copying machines can tolerate that much change.
Therefore, area doesn't have a darned thing to do with my suggestion so
I consider it a moot point. But if you're fond of considering area,
consider this. A US Letter sheet has an area that can be expressed as
0.06 m2 with only a 0.5 % error. A ream of US Letter paper can thus
cover 30 m2 (again, to the nearest 0.5 %). The size of A4 paper cannot
be expressed to the nearest 0.01 m2 to that level of precision.
(Compared to 0.062 m2, an extra digit of precision, it is still off by
0.6 %!) I suppose this would be of supreme interest to people who wish
to paper their walls in letter paper, as it makes the mental math
easier. Grin.
Thanks for the joust, Joe! It's good to hear from you, as always. And
thanks for that usage data you provided.
Jim
--
Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!"
James R. Frysinger, LCAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/
10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Charleston, SC 29407 phone: 843.225.6789
