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	["1384" "Wed" "26" "January" "1994" "10:32:12" "EST" "Michael Barr" "barr@TRIPLES.MATH.MCGILL.CA" "<199401261538.AA08147@mail.cs.tu-berlin.de>" "34" "Re: defaults in latex" "^Date:" nil nil "1" "1994012615:32:12" "defaults in latex" (number " " mark "     Michael Barr      Jan 26   34/1384  " thread-indent "\"Re: defaults in latex\"\n") nil])
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Date:         Wed, 26 Jan 1994 10:32:12 EST
From: Michael Barr <barr@TRIPLES.MATH.MCGILL.CA>
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Subject:      Re: defaults in latex
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>
> %>From:          Joachim Schrod <schrod@ITI.INFORMATIK.TH-DARMSTADT.DE>
> %>
> %>Gimme quart as default (cf. Tschichold's article on non-arbitrary
> %>page layouts...)!
> %>
> %>Down with the obnoxious paper sizes that damage our typographic
> %>results and only benefit industry!  Typography-aware readers of the
> %>world, unite!  Hey you, with the white jacket -- wadda 'ya do here in
> %>my office? Hey, let me jas gldj ;lg jas
> %>
> %>
> %><Connection closed>
> %>
>
> Up the Golden Ratio!!  (Advert for A4.-)
>
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
> %% Dr M J Piff, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of %%
> %% Sheffield, UK.                    e-mail: M.Piff@sheffield.ac.uk %%
> %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
>

The golden ratio is about 1.61 (the ration of the kilometer to the
mile, so that I know that 55 km, say, is around 34 mi, 34 and 55 being
successive terms in the Fibonnaci series.  A4 has a ratio of
sqrt(2), around 1.41, while 8 1/2 by 11 has aspect around 1.29.  I
guess it is all what you expect, but I find A4 oddly long and narrow
for my taste.  I do understand the economies inherent in the An
scheme and I supposed you can get used to anything.  All of which is
pretty irrelevant; it has been a long time since I used an
unmodified article style.

Michael Barr