Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size

Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by tankenmate on Monday September 05, 2022 @05:39AM (#32722292)

The UK is far closer to metric and will be even more so shortly, for anyone unaware most kids in the UK aren't even taught imperial units at school any more. There really are only vestigial units left; feet / inches for human height (but not for buildings for example), pints for liquids that are drunk (but not for hot water tanks for example), stone for human weight (but not for boxed items), etc. And for places like N. Ireland it's even less so, milk is sold in litres, etc because of the proximity to (Ro) Ireland (which now has its speed limits in km/h for example).

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Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by joshcoleuk on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:50AM (#32722859)

This is true, I have friends 10 years younger than me who were never taught imperial units at school. These people are in their early 20s now, give it another decade or so and they'll start to be the people making decisions. We'll finally be able to rid ourselves of the anachronism of imperial measurements.

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Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by Gordonjcp on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:03AM (#32722494)

Milk is sold in litres in the UK, it's really only beer that's sold in pints.

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Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by avvt4avaw on Monday September 05, 2022 @07:18AM (#32723063)

The most common sizes for milk to be sold in are 1.136 litres and 2.272 litres (i.e. 2 pints and 4 pints)

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Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by Gordonjcp on Monday September 05, 2022 @01:31PM (#32726850)

Where is that sold? I've never seen anything other than 500ml, 1l, and 2l.

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Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by Symbiote on Monday September 05, 2022 @01:56PM (#32727134)

Normal supermarkets.

If you only buy milk in multiples of 500mL, you're buying a luxury brand or from a corner shop -- both situations use the slightly smaller (vs 568mL) size to make the price seem lower.

You can see at Tesco [1] that Yeo Valley, Arla, Cravendale, Finest, Tesco Filtered are all 1 or 2 litres. "Normal" milk is 2 or 4 pints.

(The EU used to have regulations around this sort of thing, but I think they've unfortunately been repealed for most products. It's why bread was only sold in multiples of 400g -- it meant the merchant couldn't discreetly reduce the size of some/all products.)

[1] https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/fresh-food/milk-b...

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Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by Gordonjcp on Monday September 05, 2022 @03:46PM (#32728529)

Asda only has it in 500ml and 1l containers. I couldn't be arsed walking to Tesco, and the nearest Morrisons or Sainsburys is a 20-minute drive away.

The dairy that delivers here does 500ml, 1l, and 2l, as does the one I bought milk from before I moved, and the one before I moved the time before that.

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Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by Symbiote on Monday September 05, 2022 @05:40PM (#32729817)

https://groceries.asda.com/aisle/chilled-food/milk-butter-cr...

The normal milk is all in pints.

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Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by bearmode on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:36AM (#32722742)

There are very few imperial holdovers left in the UK, outside of colloquial use.

Distance on road signs, car speed, engine fuel efficiency, beer pints (though I don't mind this since it means our average drink is larger, easier to say than 568ml as well), and that's it as far as I can recall

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Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by nikanj on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:54AM (#32722894)

My UK friends never talk in metric. They weigh 16 stones and are 6 feet 4 inches. The next town over is about 25 miles, etc.

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Re:Why A4? – The Mathematical Beauty of Paper Size by bearmode on Monday September 05, 2022 @06:59AM (#32722930)

Yeah, I said outside of colloquial use. People still use it colloquially because it's what they know, but they'll also know metric.

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