A hypothetical (and maybe practical) question has been nagging at me.
If you had a piece of paper with dimensions 4 and 3 (4:3), folding it in half along the long side (once) would result in 2 inches and 3 inches (2:3), which wouldn't retain its ratio. For example, here is a piece of paper that doesn't retain its ratio when folded:
Is retaining the ratio technically possible? If so, what is the side length and ratio that fulfills this requirement? Any help would be appreciated.
Update:
I added "once" because I got an answer saying that any recectangle would work, as any rectangle folded twice has the original ratio. Nice answer, but not quite what I was looking for. As for the other answers, I got 3x as much information as I needed! Thanks!
Best Answer
The $1:\sqrt{2}$ ratio ensures exactly that. That is the idea behind the ISO 216 standard for paper sizes, which was adopted from the German DIN 476 standard.
Its most common usage is the A series which especially in Europe is a collection of very common paper sizes. The base size, A0, has an area of a square meter, and every next smaller paper size is constructed by folding it in half.