> What's a pica? > (kidding, kidding!!!!) > > ?and for those that don't know, 12 points=1 pica, 6 picas=1 inch
Umm, not exactly. (Or maybe "not necessarily" is more apt.) There are three definitions of the unit we know as a pica, and all of them are a little bit different. The original definition is from 18th century France, where a pica was defined as 12 Didot points, which worked out to 12 x 0.376 mm = 4.512 mm. The American definition was as a fraction of a foot: 0.013837 (or 1/72.27) to be exact. That works out to 4.2175 mm. But the computer world likes rounder numbers, and the computer pica is 1/72 of a foot (specifically the metrically redefined foot of 1959), and that works out to 4.23333... mm. And if you're talking about those wonderful, archaic devices known as typewriters, pica refers to a type size that is nominally 12 points tall and about 7.2 points wide, resulting in 10 characters to the horizontal inch. -Fred Ridder -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.frameusers.com/pipermail/framers/attachments/20121016/6c212633/attachment.html>
