Letter (paper size)
Encyclopedia
Paper size
Many paper size standards conventions have existed at different times and in different countries. Today there is one widespread international ISO standard and a localised standard used in North America . The paper sizes affect writing paper, stationery, cards, and some printed documents...
for office use in several countries, including the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, and Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. It measures 8.5 by 11 inches .
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
made this the paper size for U.S. federal forms in the early 1980s; previously, the smaller "official" Government letter size, , was used.
In the U.S., paper density is typically measured in "pounds per ream" (of 500 sheets). Typical letter paper has a basis weight of 20 or 24 pounds (9 or 11 kg) – the weight of 500 sheets (a ream) of 17 by paper at 70° F
Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit . Within this scale, the freezing of water into ice is defined at 32 degrees, while the boiling point of water is defined to be 212 degrees...
(21.11°C) and at 50% humidity. One ream of 20-pound letter-sized paper weighs 5 pounds, and a single letter-sized sheet of 20-pound paper weighs 0.16 ounces (4.54 g), which is equivalent to 72 g/m2 (72gsm)
Unlike the A4 (210 × 297 mm) international standard (ISO) paper sizes which are used in most countries in the world today, the origin of the dimensions of letter size paper are lost in tradition. The American Forest and Paper Association
American Forest & Paper Association
The American Forest & Paper Association is the national trade association of the forest products industry, representing manufacturers of approximately 80 percent of the U.S...
argues that the dimension originates from the days of manual paper making, and that the 11-inch length of the page is about a quarter of "the average maximum stretch of an experienced vatman's arms". However, this does not explain the width or aspect ratio.
The related paper size known as half letter, statement, or organizer L is exactly one half of the US letter size (8.5 × 5.5 in).
See also
- Paper size: loose sizes
- ANSI/ASME Y14.1ANSI/ASME Y14.1In 1995, the American National Standards Institute adopted ANSI/ASME Y14.1 which defined a regular series of paper sizes based upon the de facto standard 8½ in × 11 in "letter" size which it assigned "ANSI A". This series also includes "ledger"/"tabloid" as "ANSI B"...
- ISO 216ISO 216ISO 216 specifies international standard paper sizes used in most countries in the world today. It defines the "A" and "B" series of paper sizes, including A4, the most commonly available size...
(definition of metric paper sizes, e.g., A4)