5mm Graph Paper
Five millimetre squares: the ruling most maths exercise books use, and what most people mean by graph paper.
Five millimetre squares: the ruling most maths exercise books use, and what most people mean by graph paper.
5mm Graph Paper on A4, exactly as it prints.
Five millimetres is about the smallest square an adult can write a digit into comfortably, and about the largest that still gives useful resolution on a plot. That balance is why it ended up as the default ruling in exercise books across most of Europe and much of the world.
It also divides sensibly. Two squares to the centimetre means a 10 cm axis is 20 squares, so a scale of one square to five units, or to half a unit, is arithmetic you can do in your head while plotting.
Every sheet here is free, adjustable and prints at exact scale.
With a 10 mm margin, 38 across and 55 down. Set the margin to None and you get 42 by 59, though most printers will clip the outermost row.
No, and the difference is visible. A quarter inch is 6.35 mm, about 27% larger. Use 5 mm to match a metric exercise book and 1/4 inch to match an American quad pad.
Print at Actual size rather than Fit to page, then measure across 20 squares — it should be exactly 10 cm. If it comes out at 9.7 cm, the print dialog rescaled it.
It helps if you are plotting, because every fifth line is then 2.5 cm and easy to count to. For handwriting and general work the plain grid is quieter.
