Question 1

What is a point in typography?

Accepted Answer

A point is 1/72 inch or 0.353 mm. Font sizes are measured in points. 72 points = 1 inch = 6 picas.

Question 2

How big is 12-point text?

Accepted Answer

12-point text is 1/6 inch (4.23 mm) tall for capital letters. This is standard body text size for documents.

Question 3

Is this conversion factor exact?

Accepted Answer

Metric-to-metric conversions are exact (1 km = 1000 m). Imperial-to-metric factors like 1 inch = 2.54 cm are exact by international agreement.

Question 4

Why do some countries use different units?

Accepted Answer

Historical reasons - the metric system spread from France after 1795. The US, UK, and a few others retained older systems. Science uses metric worldwide.

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