What exactly is Aspect Ratio ?

[Hector]

AR (Aspect Ratio) is the ratio of length (or height) of pips divided by diameter (or width) of a pip in a pips out rubber.

This is a unitless simple number.

If the length of pips is 1.7 mm & the Aspect Ratio is 1.3 the diameter of the pips is 1.307 mm
If the length of the pips is 1.7 mm & Aspect Ratio is 1.1 then the diameter of the pips is 1.545 mm

The maximum length of pips allowed by ITTF is 2.0.mm
The value 1.7 mm for pimple length is significant, because the 2.0 includes glue & the base of the top sheet of the rubber. Therefore the maximum practically possible pip length is about 1.7 mm and NOT 2.0 mm . So if the pip length is 1.7 mm

ITTF has set maximum limits on Aspect Ratio for pips out rubbers.

The Maximum AR allowed by ITTF used to be 1.3 before 1999.
Starting with 1999 ITTf lowerd the maximum allowed AR from 1.3 down to 1.1

[Vilayphone dw]

I have been hearing about this Aspect Rato thingy a lot more in the last few years but I also heard that ITTF id despertely ttrying to hide discussions about this.

Does anyone know the significance of this Aspect Ratio ?