Three styles of loose leaf graph paper: 10 squares per centimeter ('millimeter paper'), 5 squares per inch ('Engineering paper'), 4 squares per inch ('Quad paper')
Engineering Paper and Custom Graph Paper Pads. As an architect or design enthusiast, you know that when it comes to the masterpieces you create, it all starts with the right paper. Engineering paper is one of your most trusted tools - it’s a product that you use on a daily basis. It’s a desk staple, if you will. It can be used as a supporting document by architects, engineers, students, and other professionals in the mechanical field. We offer custom graph paper pads.
Graph paper, coordinate paper, grid paper, or squared paper is writing paper that is printed with fine lines making up a regular grid. The lines are often used as guides for plotting graphs of functions or experimental data and drawing curves. It is commonly found in mathematics and engineering education settings and in laboratory notebooks. Graph paper is available either as loose leaf paper or bound in notebooks.
History[edit]
The first commercially published 'coordinate paper' is usually attributed to Dr. Buxton of England, who patented paper, printed with a rectangular coordinate grid, in 1794.[1] A century later, E. H. Moore, a distinguished mathematician at the University of Chicago, advocated usage of paper with 'squared lines' by students of high schools and universities.[2] The 1906 edition of Algebra for Beginners by H. S. Hall and S. R. Knight included a strong statement that 'the squared paper should be of good quality and accurately ruled to inches and tenths of an inch. Experience shows that anything on a smaller scale (such as 'millimeter' paper) is practically worthless in the hands of beginners.'[3]
The term 'graph paper' did not catch on quickly in American usage. A School Arithmetic (1919) by H. S. Hall and F. H. Stevens had a chapter on graphing with 'squared paper'. Analytic Geometry (1937) by W. A. Wilson and J. A. Tracey used the phrase 'coordinate paper'. The term 'squared paper' remained in British usage for longer; for example it was used in Public School Arithmetic (1961) by W. M. Baker and A. A. Bourne published in London.[3]
Formats[edit]
- Quad paper, sometimes referred to as quadrille paper from French quadrillé, 'small square',[4] is a common form of graph paper with a sparse grid printed in light blue or gray and right to the edge of the paper. In the U.S. and Canada, it often has two, four or five squares to the inch for work not needing too much detail. Metric paper with similarly sparse grid typically has one or two squares per centimeter.
- Dot grid paper uses dots at intersections instead of gridlines. It is often used for bullet journalling.
- Engineering paper, or an Engineer's Pad,[5] is traditionally printed on light green or tan translucent paper. It may have four, five or ten squares per inch. The grid lines are printed on the back side of each page and show through faintly to the front side. Each page has an unprinted margin. When photocopied or scanned, the grid lines typically do not show up in the resulting copy, which often gives the work a neat, uncluttered appearance. In the U.S. and Canada, some engineering professors require student homework to be completed on engineering paper.[5][6]
- Millimeter paper has ten squares per centimeter and is used for technical drawings.
- Hexagonal paper shows regular hexagons instead of squares. These can be used to map geometric tiled or tesselated designs among other uses.
- Isometric graph paper or 3D graph paper is a triangular graph paper which uses a series of three guidelines forming a 60° grid of small triangles. The triangles are arranged in groups of six to make hexagons. The name suggests the use for isometric views or pseudo-three-dimensional views. Among other functions, they can be used in the design of trianglepoint embroidery. It can be used to draw angles accurately.
- Logarithmic paper has rectangles drawn in varying widths corresponding to logarithmic scales for semi-log plots or log-log plots.
- Normal probability paper is another graph paper with rectangles of variable widths. It is designed so that 'the graph of the normal distribution function is represented on it by a straight line', i.e. it can be used for a normal probability plot.[7]
- Polar coordinate paper has concentric circles divided into small arcs or 'pie wedges' to allow plotting in polar coordinates.
In general, graphs showing grids are sometimes called Cartesian graphs because the square can be used to map measurements onto a Cartesian (x vs. y) coordinate system. It is also available without lines but with dots at the positions where the lines would intersect.
Examples[edit]
- Regular graphing paper
- Log-log graphing paper
- Semi-log graphing paper
- Isometric graphing paper
- Polar coordinate paper
- Engineering paper
- Squared exercise book used in Russian schools (12 and 18 sheets)
- Graph composition book used in the United States (80 sheets)
- Two styles of loose leaf graph paper
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Friendly, Michael; Denis, Daniel J. (5 July 2006). 'Milestones in the history of thematic cartography, statistical graphics, and data visualization'(PDF). York University: 13.Cite journal requires
|journal=
(help) - ^Borovik, Alexandre (7 August 2008). 'Graphed Paper'. Mathematics under the Microscope. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- ^ abBallew, Pat. 'Some Notes on graph paper'. Math Words, and Some Other Words, of Interest. PBallew.net. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- ^'quadrille'. Oxford Living Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. 2017.
- ^ ab'The Preparation of Engineering Problem Sets'(PDF). Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Technical Communications in Mechanical Engineering. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- ^'Required Homework Format'(PDF). Auburn University. Department of Chemical Engineering. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
- ^Prokhorov, A. V. (2011). 'Probability graph paper'. Encyclopedia of Mathematics. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Graph paper. |
- Graph paper downloads at Print-graph-paper.com
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Graph_paper&oldid=931126873'
Download printable graph paper or a free Graph Paper Template for Microsoft Excel®
Vertex42 provides free graph paper or blank grid paper that you can print for your kids, students, home, or work. This page provides an Excel template with grids for engineering, architectural, or landscape plans as well as printable inch graph paper in 1/4' and 1/5' grid spacings, centimeter graph paper, and isometric graph paper. See our new printable graph paper page for Word-based templates and more sizes and formats.
Printable Graph Paper (PDF)
To print your own graph paper on 8.5 x 11 inch paper, you can download the following PDF files (viewable using Adobe Reader). See our new Printable Graph Paper page for more sizes and formats, including 1/10' grids and engineering paper.
1/5 Inch Graph Paper
Isometric Graph Paper
portrait | landscape
portrait | landscape
In the inch grid paper and cm grid paper the scaling is fairly precise, but not exact. Our new Word-based templates are more precise. The isometric grid paper is scaled to inches, measured from vertex to vertex.
⤓ Download
Version: Excel 2003 or later
Other Versions
Template Details
License: Personal Use(not for distribution or resale)
'No installation, no macros - just a simple spreadsheet' - by Jon Wittwer
Description
This Excel (.xls) file contains square grids of different sizes, triangular, and isometric graph paper.
Excel can provide a useful grid-based drawing canvas for landscape plans and simple architectural floor plans. Many people may not realize that the drawing tools in Office are basically the same in Excel, Word, and Powerpoint. In Excel, you can snap to the grid by holding the Alt key as you insert shapes and lines. You can also use another worksheet within the same workbook to do calculations.
Note: If you are just looking for printable graph paper, the Word (.docx) templates available on the new printable graph paper page provide more accurate measurements and aspect ratios.
Problem with the Excel Graph Paper Template
If you aren't concerned with exact scaling, Excel can be a pretty useful tool for creating simple floor plans, landscaping plans, Sudoku grids, and other stuff (see reference [1]). I have even used it to plan how I was going to load furniture into a moving truck.
The problem with the scaling is that Excel's column widths and row heights are based on pixels rather than printed dimensions (link inches or centimeters). It is possible to get pretty close to an inch scale using the Excel template by manipulating the pixel width and height of the columns and rows, and that is what I have done in the above graph paper template (and wasted a lot of paper in the process). However, if you want a more precise grid, use Word or Powerpoint to define a table with the cell widths and heights set to specific widths.
Resources
- [1] Excel as Gridpaper for Drawing at mrexcel.com - Shows how Excel can be used to create some fancy floor plans and explains how to set the grid size based on pixels.
- [2] Printable Graph Paper at printfreegraphpaper.com - A large variety including polar, cartesian coordinate, hexagonal, and logarithmic graph paper (in PDF format).
Related Content
Sharing the Graph Paper
You are welcome to print as many hard copies as you want, but please do not post our files or modifications of our files anywhere on the internet. If you want to share our templates, you may link to this page in an email, on your blog, or on your website using the following URL:https://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/graph-paper.html
Disclaimer: The files and templates on this page are intended for educational use. They should not be used for purposes where exact dimensions are critical.