Talk:Aspect ratio

Topicality / Scope
I agree that a summary treatment of Aspect Ratio is appropriate here. However, I think that specific discussions of applied aspect ratios belong in those sub-articles that treat those topics. e.g. Wing aspect ratio should be discussed in Aspect ratio (wing) Failure to do so creates duplication of effort and excessive article size. I am removing duplicate info to the talk pages of the appropriate sub-articles. Stephen Charles Thompson (talk) 07:33, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Preferred by Who?
I removed this table from the main article for two reasons:
 * 1) it is not subjective, and
 * 2) If the reader is able to read this article they are probably able to do the math themself.

I propose deletion of this table. Stephen Charles Thompson (talk) 07:47, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Question
Here's a math question:

Suppose the diagonal and the aspect ratio of a monitor are known. What is the formula used to determine the length and width?

D = diagonal A = aspect ratio L = length W = width

$$D=\sqrt {L^2+W^2}$$

$$A=W/L$$

$$D^2=L^2+W^2$$

$$D^2-W^2=L^2$$

$$\sqrt{D^2-W^2}=L$$

$$A=W/\sqrt{D^2-W^2}$$

How do I solve it from there to get the value of W or the value of L? Captain Zyrain 14:14, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Answer (courtesy of Jacob Foster)
Hey there,

Just did the algebra very quickly, but I think correctly. I'll write in LaTeX. The key, of course, is to rewrite in terms of known variables. So,

A = W/L LA = W L^2 * A^2 = W^2

Substituting,

D^2 = L^2 + L^2 * A^2

Solving,

L = D\(\sqrt{1 + A^2})

W = DA\(\sqrt{1 + A^2})

And there you go! Captain Zyrain 15:01, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Category fix needed
"Numerology" doesn't mean what the person who added the category probably thought it means... AnonMoos (talk) 23:56, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Any thoughts about writing a page on T/C ratio
This is a page which is badly needed; at the moment there are some convoluted sentences appearing in Wikipedia aviation pages trying to explain the concept. The Hawker Tempest article has been rewritten to start the ball rolling. At the moment I don't have the time to start a new page. Would anyone else like to have a go?Minorhistorian (talk) 00:44, 22 March 2008 (UTC)

Computer Aspect
I can not figure this out. I was 99% sure that Computer Monitors were a 16:10 aspect or 8:5--216.194.116.178 (talk) 04:31, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

I did a quick calculation and yes. The Computer "widescreen" aspect is 16:10 NOT 15:9 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.194.116.178 (talk) 04:32, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

Landscape and portrait
The synonyms "landscape" and "portrait" for aspect ratios above and below 1:1 should be mentioned. Paradoctor (talk) 16:30, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

aspect?
What is the meaning of "aspect" in "aspect ratio"? Tkuvho (talk) 08:22, 17 November 2010 (UTC)

Example image sideways
The image under "Examples" shows 3:4, 1:sqrt2, 2:3, etc instead of 4:3, sqrt2:1, 3:2, etc. Can someone edit the image or just use the one from Aspect ratio (image)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.174.169.102 (talk) 18:13, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
 * Done. Corrected the rectangle illustrations to display the proper x:y values. Added verbiage to clarify the vertical vs. horizontal orientation of the x:y difference between the illustration above and text below. Missylou2who (talk) 14:37, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

Sure? Length and width?
"For a rectangle, the aspect ratio denotes the ratio of length to width of the rectangle." What is the width of the rectangle and is this expressed in terms of a length or in what kind of units? I'd say a ratio of a length to a width is completely random, as you can select the unit of length as you want. The width is 1 for this unit. The thing you need is the height - so it's a ratio like width/height using measured lengths of width and height using the same rule... --91.39.11.93 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 13:57, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

A4 paper size aspect ratio
The international paper size A4 is generally thought of in portrait orientation. So the aspect ratio would surely be $$X:Y = 1:\sqrt{2} = 0.7071...$$.

In general it seems more logical to think of aspect ratio as the gradient Y/X. In mathematics, one is accustomed to writing $$\theta = \arctan(Y/X)$$, which is in reverse alphabetical order. Using alphabetical order X/Y gives a number which is somewhat unintuitive for portrait orientation. (Until about 200 years ago, mathematicians did in fact use the vertical axis for the independent variable X and the horizontal axis for the dependent variable Y.) For consistency, I think it should always be Y/X, not X/Y. But as the old saying goes, a bad standard is better than no standard. Alan U. Kennington (talk) 04:06, 11 December 2020 (UTC)