Wolfgang,
thanks for your answer, although it doesn't explain (to me, anyway) the
12.06137pt number.
On Mon, Feb 2, 2026 at 13:37 (-0500), Aditya Mahajan wrote:
> On Mon, 2 Feb 2026, Jim wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> I get the output:
>> The baselineskip is 12.06137pt
>> The smallskipamount is 2.2615pt plus 0.75383pt minus 0.75383pt
>> (3) Why is \baselineskip set to this curious amount, rather than 12pt?
> My first guess was bp vs pt, but that does match: 12bp \approx 12.06125pt
Aditya,
I get 12bp = 12.045pt, not 12.06125pt. In either case, still not
12.06137pt. :-)
Even if it was 12bp, while the difference between 12.06137pt and 12.06125pt
is inconsequential from a visual point of view (pathological examples
notwithstanding), I still like to understand the fundamentals of how/why
such things are defined.
Still curious about these other questions, for anyone still following along:
(1) Why is \smallskipamount set to the same as plain TeX in syst-init.mkxl
when it is just going to be reset to be 1/4 of the *adjusted*
\baselineskip ?
(Wild guess: Historical reasons following plain TeX?)
(2) Why is \skipfactor 0.75?
(Wild guess: Someone's aesthetic preference?)
Cheers.
Jim
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