Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!pyrnj!pyrdc!uunet!mcvax!unido!nsebln!tom
From: tom@nsebln
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Re: Definition of Point - (nf)
Message-ID: <7500001@nsebln.UUCP>
Date: 14 Oct 88 11:43:00 GMT
References: <2610015@hpsal2.UUCP>
Lines: 25
Nf-ID: #R:hpsal2:2610015:nsebln:7500001:000:1158
Nf-From: nsebln!tom    Oct 14 12:43:00 1988

In notesgroup <comp.text> hpsal2!morrell (Michael) 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?

The size of one point was standardized in 1886 for the
American point system, and fixed at 0.01384 inches, or
almost exactly 1/72 inch.

Sandra L.Emerson, Karen Paulsell
troff typesetting for UNIX systems
Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632

1/72 is equal to 0.0138888..., so your Webster's is right.

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