Talk:Units of paper quantity

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[edit] Fromthe old "Paper ream" page

In the United States, paper is typically described by a mass in pounds, with 20 pound and 24 pound as common masses. This measurement refers to the weight of 500 sheets of 17 in.×22 in. paper of that type, which the manufacturer could cut into four letter-size reams. Thus, one ream of twenty-pound letter-size paper has a mass of five pounds.

The metric unit for paper thickness, or grammage, is grams per square metre. Since 1 pound is 453.59237 grams, 1 inch is 25.4 mm, and 1 standard ream is 500 sheets of 17 in.×22 in., a paper thickness of 20 pounds per ream corresponds to 75 g/m².

Rich Farmbrough, 09:00 24 April 2007 (GMT).