Questions about TeX's length units.
Questions tagged [unit-of-measure]
63 questions
21
votes
2 answers
How do I convert pt/in/cm/mm to em/ex as they are defined at a given point in the document?
I am using various macros that I have fine-tuned with units like pt and cm. I use those macros normally in certain places (say, in main body text or in footnote text). To properly generalize those macros, I would like to replace the absolute units…
Lover of Structure
- 22,025
20
votes
2 answers
What value TeX uses as its minimal unit
TeX uses scaled point as its minimal unit. At least it's said so in the TeXbook:
TeX represents all dimensions internally as an integer multiple of the tiny units called sp.
65536 sp = 2^{16} sp = 1 pt.
And later on,
TeX actually does its…
Igor Liferenko
- 7,063
- 2
- 14
- 47
17
votes
1 answer
Measuring the distance from text to the top of the page
How can I obtain a measurement from the baseline of any line of text in a document to top of the body of text on a page?
Village
- 13,603
- 23
- 116
- 219
9
votes
2 answers
Which unit of measurement for textwidth?
Which unit of measurement should I use to specify \textwidth?
I used to specify \textheight in cm but read in some doc that one should always use multiples of \baselineskip. Indeed, the output improved considerably and I got rid of almost all…
lpdbw
- 8,330
7
votes
2 answers
How to print various type-related metrics
In the answer by @Johan_E to Which measurement units should one use in LaTeX?, there are useful charts showing the size, in points, of 1em, the width of an M, 1ex, and the height of an x. How can I produce such a chart? Most useful would be an…
dedded
- 2,236
5
votes
4 answers
Cutting corners - how to delete 1 pt (0.3515 mm) or so
There is no way to reformulate the sentence. When I for example delete the letter "i" within the sentence, I'm good, everything fits perfectly.
So I was thinking about cutting the corners of blank space. It just concerns one particular row. Any…
Vochmelka
- 965
4
votes
1 answer
The shortcuts for measurement units: cm and dm
I have to write a math book and I'm using often the following measurement units: centimeter (cm), decimeter (dm). Can you provide me the shortcut which will output cm and dm. For meter(m) I've found the following shortcut \meter -> m.
Iuli
- 471
3
votes
1 answer
Metric Didot point and Cicero
A while ago I found out that there are two hardly known units available at least in pdftex: nd and nc for a Didot point of 0.375 mm as exactly as TeX can represent it in sp and the corresponding cicero of 12 points. From Q319652:
So 1238/1157…
Crissov
- 1,866
2
votes
2 answers
How to determine what unit is used?
I'm using a working template containing this line below and am wondering what unit is used? I'd expect at least e.g. 3.18pt to be necessary.
\vspace{3.18\baselineskip}
jjk
- 285
-1
votes
2 answers
Converting from one unit (pt, ex, em, in, bp, dd, pc, mm, cm) to another
I want a command to convert from one unit (pt, ex, em, in, bp, dd, pc, mm, cm) to another. What can I do with l3 ?
Ragonese
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