Question

What is the Point - What does point mean??

Accepted Answer

This entry has two definitions           Definition 1         A standard unit of measure  A point is a unit of length measuring one-thousandth of an inch  0 001   1 mil is equivalent to 0 0254mm or 25 4  m  microns   The term point is a synonym for the much more commonly used mil  In labelling  this unit can be used to indicate the caliper  thickness  of sheets of labels and the face and backing materials used to make label products         Definition 2         A standard unit of measure relating to the size of typefaces and fonts  The most commonly used definition of a point is 1 72 of an inch  with twelve points making a pica and six picas making an inch  The point is represented by the symbol pt and is commonly referred to as the  desktop publishing point   DTP point  or the  PostScript point  because it is the measurement used by desktop publishing software  It should be noted  however  that the relationship between picas points and inches is not exact  the measurement of a point is rounded to 0 0138 inches or 0 3527mm  so where  for example  30 picas 360 points should measure 5 inches  it is actually 4 98 inches  rounded to 2 decimal places          Historically  there have been a number of different point systems  each with its own unique value for a point  these measurements tended to be limited to specific regions  such as the US UK  Europe  Belgium  France etc   where they were sometimes further adapted by individual printers  As an example  the most common measurement in the UK and US defines a point as 0 0138 inches or 0 3527mm  while the most common measurement in Europe defines a point as approximately 0 0148 inches or 0 376mm  this system is known as the Didot System  and one corps  point  equals twelve cicero  pica           The point is used to measure a number of elements involved in the composition of a typeface or font  including height and spacing  or  leading    When used as a measurement of physical letterforms  such as the metal blocks that were used in early forms of printing  the point is a measurement of the block that contains a particular letterform  rather than the character itself   When used as a measurement of digital letterforms  the point is used as a measurement for the  em square   this is a square area in which an individual character of a digital typeface or font is designed

Millimetre (mm) - What does millimetre mean?

Definition of MILLIMETRE: