Orchid XP v8 schrieb:
>> And there is 72 points to the inch.
> 
> Depending on who you ask. ;-)
> 
> (PostScript assigns 72 points to the inch, TeX assigns 72.72, and 
> apparently other systems assign yet other values.)
> 
> Fortunately, in this instance I'm only interested in PS.

The traditional US-american printers' "pica point" was defined for one 
pica (12 points) to be 0.166 inch (giving ca. 72.29 points per inch). 
TeX, being quite traditionalistic regarding typesetting, probably bases 
its definition on this older standard, although I'm quite puzzled why it 
uses the slightly lower value of 72.27 (not 72.72). Maybe it has to do 
with the evolution of the inch since the day the "pica point" was 
standardized. Also, there seems to have been alternative suggestions for 
the definition of the pica point back in the time when it was 
standardized in 1886, one if which would have resulted in exactly 72.27 
points per inch.

However, /the/ "DTP point" gives exactly 72 points per inch, and any 
software using a different definition is a rare exception.

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