It seems that nobody really knows. The 11 inch part seems to have an almost-official explanation: the wingspan of paper-makers constrained the width of the paper frames, which converged on 44 inches wide. Cut that sheet in half twice, and there's your 11 inches. But nobody seems to know about the 8 1/2. That got officially standardized for US government use not too long ago, but that's not an explanation--the size had already existed for a long time.
Legal paper is 8 1/2 by 14 (or used to be), which is pretty close to the golden ratio (a sheet is about 1/4 inch too long), and gold is probably a pleasant thing for lawyers to contemplate while using the sheets.
2 comments:
Maybe similar path dependence on the other dimension of the paper frame? 4 x 8.5 comes out to 34 inches.
This international sizing chart from Neenah Paper suggests it if you assume the A0 sheet size (33-1/8 x 46-13/16 in) came from a full frame. A4 is just slightly narrower ~8 1/4 inches and longer ~11 3/4 inches but in the same ballpark as US Letter and also 16 sheets per frame. The Euros just made their frames slightly shorter but a bit wider (or narrower but taller.)
"...and gold is probably a pleasant thing for lawyers to contemplate while using the sheets."
With apologies to Shakespeare: I like thy wit well, i'faith.
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