LaTeX forum ⇒ LaTeX Beginner's Guide ⇒ Points to cm

[topsquark]

I suppose many of my questions probably belong in this forum.

Anyway, what is the conversion factor between pt and cm? It's close to 28, but that doesn't seem to be exact.

Thanks!

-Dan

[rais]

1 in = 2.54 cm = 72.27 pt

KR
Rainer

[topsquark]

1 in = 2.54 cm = 72.27 pt

KR
Rainer

Thank you!

Do you know happen to know where the unit pt is used? Is it a typesetting unit of some kind?

-Dan

[rais]

Yes, a point is the smallest typographic unit of measure.
The ratio of 72.27 pt to 1 in is what (La)TeX uses to adhere to the American Point System, AFAIK.
Perhaps I should've asked you where your pt is coming from
A PostScript point would be 1/72 of an inch, which is 1 bp (big point) in (La)TeX terms.
To complete the confusion, outside (La)TeX a PostScript point also is given as 1 pt.

OTOH, you could have asked (La)TeX what 1 cm is in pt, because when you ask (La)TeX about a dimension, it will be given in pt, no matter which unit was used to set it:

\documentclass{article}
\newlength\foo
\setlength\foo{1cm}
\begin{document}
1 cm = \the\foo
\end{document}

KR
Rainer