# Why is paper money rectangular? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411 "2019-04-11T22:29:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/1 "2019-04-11T22:29:28Z")
While I haven’t done an exhaustive search of all forms of paper money used on the planet, it seems to me that, in almost all countries that use paper money, the bills are rectangular. Why? Why not square or round? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/2 "2019-04-11T22:45:22Z")
Round would waste excess paper when cut from sheets. Square would be inconvenient to handle and store in wallets or pockets, and it would be a nightmare for automated bill readers. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/3 "2019-04-11T22:49:12Z")
Tradition. I really think it is that simple. Certainly, rectangular bills predate automated bill readers. By centuries. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/4 "2019-04-11T23:11:18Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Round would waste excess paper when cut from sheets. Square would be inconvenient to handle and store in wallets or pockets, and it would be a nightmare for automated bill readers. As for ease of handling, consider that if you pick up a rectangular piece of paper you have a 50/50 chance to hold it upside-down. With a square it’s a 75% chance. It seems like a minor thing but not if you’re handling money all day every day. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/5 "2019-04-11T23:22:36Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > As for ease of handling, consider that if you pick up a rectangular piece of paper you have a 50/50 chance to hold it upside-down. With a square it’s a 75% chance. It seems like a minor thing but not if you’re handling money all day every day. I agree with this. I was going to say something similar. Having the bill being rectangular means it has an “up” side, making it easier to see how much you have, if you have a pile of bills and want to look only at the number on corner. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/6 "2019-04-11T23:28:15Z")
Why cant we make symmetrical money that is always “up” no matter how you grab it? ---
**Author:** ![tampora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@tampora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tampora)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/7 "2019-04-11T23:41:24Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Why cant we make symmetrical money that is always “up” no matter how you grab it? Each degree of symmetry added reduces the complexity of the bill, making it easier to counterfeit. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/8 "2019-04-11T23:48:22Z")
> [@tampora](#): > > Each degree of symmetry added reduces the complexity of the bill, making it easier to counterfeit. Bah! Foiled again by them danged counterfeittererers! ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/9 "2019-04-11T23:49:52Z")
Duplicate ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/10 "2019-04-11T23:52:50Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Bah! Foiled again by them danged counterfeittererers! > [@snfaulkner](#): > > Duplicate Hah! ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/11 "2019-04-12T00:39:34Z")
Documents are generally rectangular. Why should banknotes be an exception? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/12 "2019-04-12T02:15:41Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Documents are generally rectangular. Why should banknotes be an exception? Why are banknotes usually in a landscape orientation? There are remarkably few that are in a vertical orientation. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/13 "2019-04-12T03:02:37Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Why are banknotes usually in a landscape orientation? There are remarkably few that are in a vertical orientation. At a guess, because they’re an evolution of promissory notes, cheques and similar instruments. What you have here is a short form (“I promise to pay the bearer . . .”) with a few blanks in it that need to be filled in by hand, and that needs a signature and usually a date. So you want a smallish piece of paper (just big enough for the necessary text, small enough to be convenient to carry around and handle), and it’s landscape orientation so that the necessary insertions by hand can each be on one line, which is easy to fill in and less prone to subsequent alteration with the insertion of extra words or numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/14 "2019-04-12T04:00:46Z")
It just is. If it was square, you would be asking why it isn’t rectangular. Folks from outside the US wonder why the hell our money is all the same size. They actually have a point. Not a great big one, but a point. Tris * * * Maybe debit cards should be a different size than credit cards. Make the credit cards proportional to your outstanding balance. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/15 "2019-04-12T06:45:02Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Why are banknotes usually in a landscape orientation? There are remarkably few that are in a vertical orientation. I wouldn’t say “remarkably few.” Switzerland has them, and I’ve seen them in Colombia and Canada. That’s just what I’ve seen–I would bet there are others. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/16 "2019-04-12T07:23:20Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Why are banknotes usually in a landscape orientation? There are remarkably few that are in a vertical orientation. > [@UDS](#): > > At a guess, because they’re an evolution of promissory notes, cheques and similar instruments. What you have here is a short form (“I promise to pay the bearer . . .”) with a few blanks in it that need to be filled in by hand, and that needs a signature and usually a date. So you want a smallish piece of paper (just big enough for the necessary text, small enough to be convenient to carry around and handle), and it’s landscape orientation so that the necessary insertions by hand can each be on one line, which is easy to fill in and less prone to subsequent alteration with the insertion of extra words or numbers. Yeah, [here’s one of the earliest European banknotes.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sweden-Credityf-Zedels.jpg) Interestingly enough, it’s a lot more square than a modern dollar bill or [euro note](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_banknotes#2nd_series_(Europa_series)). But that kind of fits the nature of the document–they needed room for all those signatures. As late as the 1950s, there were still British banknotes that [looked like this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bank_of_England_%C2%A35_note_1952.jpg)–more rectangular than that 17th century Swedish note, but still more square than an American bill, or [a modern British one](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bank_of_England_%C2%A35_obverse.jpg); the shape would seem to follow from the fact that it was still more like a little “note”–a little “I.O.U.” from the Bank of England on fancy watermarked paper–thus making it more natural as a moderate rectangle in landscape. And some of the very earliest examples of paper currency, [from China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jiao_zi.jpg), _were_ in portrait orientation. But in that case, [Chinese writing traditionally was often done vertically rather than horizontally](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal_and_vertical_writing_in_East_Asian_scripts), so the orientation matches up with the writing system in use. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/17 "2019-04-12T13:36:17Z")
Completely trivial fact: The US bills used to be larger. How large? Exactly the size of the IBM cards. The early Hollerith machines adapted dollar bill counters to sort the cards used, IIRC, in 1890 census. The company eventually became IBM. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/18 "2019-04-12T15:40:52Z")
It’s also more ergonomic–easier to handle with human hands. Also playing cards. I can’t think of anything commonly handled in bundles or stacks that is square, except Post-It Notes but those are handled one at a time, not shuffled or counted. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/19 "2019-04-12T15:59:50Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > It’s also more ergonomic–easier to handle with human hands. Also playing cards. I can’t think of anything commonly handled in bundles or stacks that is square, except Post-It Notes but those are handled one at a time, not shuffled or counted. Most of my Post-It Notes at work are rectangular and landscape. They are easier to write notes on. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411/20 "2019-04-12T16:57:21Z")
BTW, many early banknotes did have more squarish aspect ratios, such as these: 17th century Swedish banknote : [File:Sweden-Credityf-Zedels.jpg - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sweden-Credityf-Zedels.jpg) Continental Currency: [File:Benjamin Franklin nature printed 55 dollar front 1779.jpg - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Benjamin_Franklin_nature_printed_55_dollar_front_1779.jpg) Sometimes, they were also portrait mode, rather than landscape. As noted above, I would suspect we are just seeing an evolution reflecting a size / aspect ratio that people find convenient to handle. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-paper-money-rectangular/832411.md?page=2)