Newsgroups: comp.text
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: Definition of Point
Message-ID: <1988Oct13.174518.11571@utzoo.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
References: <750@dogie.edu>
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 88 17:45:18 GMT

In article <2610015@hpsal2.HP.COM>, morrell@hpsal2.HP.COM (Michael Morrell) writes...
]Does anyone know the exact definition of "point" (as in a 12-point font)?
]Some references (most nroff manuals) say there are 72 points to the inch,
]but others simply say (including my Webster's!!!) that a point is "nearly"
]equal to 1/72 of an inch.  Who is right?

A point is historically one of these bizarre odd-sized units that just do
not come out to anything nice and clean and even.  It is *almost* equal
to 1/72 of an inch.  Not quite.  Certain sloppy pieces of software (troff),
encouraged by certain sloppy pieces of hardware (the C/A/T), try to simplify
their lives by assuming that a point is exactly 1/72 of an inch.  That does
not make it so.  The difference is not large enough to matter a lot in many
cases, at least not to an untrained eye.
-- 
The meek can have the Earth;    |    Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
the rest of us have other plans.|uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu