![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
bbc_feed) wrote2026-05-13 04:15 pm
bbc_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:37 pmbbc_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:36 pmbbc_feed) wrote2026-05-13 01:37 pmbbc_feed) wrote2026-05-13 04:20 pmbbc_feed) wrote2026-05-13 04:02 pmbbc_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:58 pmbbc_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:37 pmhillel_wayne_btndn_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:56 pm
I'm in the middle of redoing the Logic for Programmers diagrams and this has surfaced a really annoying problem. The book is formatted in LaTeX using a pseudo-grid of 10.8pt × 7.2pt. The diagrams are done in Inkscape using a 10.8pt × 7.2pt.
Last week I found out that these are not the same points.
Latex defines a point as 1/72.27 inches (0.3515 millimeters). Inkscape instead uses 1/72 inches (0.3528 mm). It's only a difference of 0.4% but it still floors me that two widespread digital technologies would be different!
So, uh, what happened?
A few hours of reading articles later, this is what I found, caveat that I didn't spend all that much time researching this and this is only initial impressions.
A point is a typographic measure, coming from 1517, that is supposedly the smallest interesting size for a printer. This was notably not a standardized measure- different companies in times used different point sizes depending on their equipment. Over time it was standardized, but each country picked a different standard: the German and Japanese point is 0.250 mm, the French point is allegedly 0.399 mm, etc.
But early computer history is super Americentric so that's what technology uses. In the US, they standardized the point around the end of the 19th century. To what? I dunno. This source from 1900 gives the length of a point as 35/996 cm (72.281 points/in) and then says there are exactly 867.4699 "ems per foot" (72.289 points/in). This source from 1916 says the standard pica (12 points) is 0.16604 inches and that there are 72.272 "pica ems per foot". Which conveniently enough gives us 72.272 points/in (a pica being 12 points). Then on the very next page they say no a pica is actually 0.166044 inches and a point is exactly 0.013837 inches. I found other sources with other definitions, too.
I'm going to chalk the differences up to a mix of "the definitions of 'meter' and 'foot' changed over time" and "these are less than a micron apart so who gives a shit". I do, I give a shit. Regardless, the official NIST definition settled on a point being 0.013837 inches, so you'd get 72.27 points/inch.
Wrong! You absolute moron. You get 72.270001 points/inch. This annoyed Donald Knuth enough that he rejiggered the ratio in TeX (pg 58):
TEX’s “pt” has been made slightly larger than the official printer’s point, which was defined to equal exactly .013837 in by the American Typefounders Association in 1886 [cf. National Bureau of Standards Circular 570 (1956)]. In fact, one classical point is exactly .99999999 pt, so the “error” is essentially one part in 10^8. … The new definition 72.27 pt = 1 in is not only better for calculation, it is also easier to remember.
(To explain his motivation a little: American printers measure things in inches, and define the point in terms of inches. TeX measures things in points1, and define the inch in terms of points.)
For the record, NIST seems to think "72 points/inch" is a good enough approximation. TeX calls this the bp (big point).
Now what about Inkscape? As far as I can tell, this comes from the Postscript format's definition of the unit size:
The length of a unit along the x axis and along the y axis is 1/72 of an inch. We call this coordinate system default user space.
These features of default user space are chosen for their mathematical simplicity and convenience. The location and orientation of the axes follow common mathematical practice and cause all points within the current page to have positive x and y coordinate values. The unit size, 1/72 of an inch, is very close to the size of a printer's point (1/72.27 inch), which is a standard measuring unit used in the printing industry.
Later on page 86 they straight up call 1/72 inch a "point". Later editions would clarify it's not actually a point and that points are stupid anyway:
Note: The default unit size (1/72 inch) is approximately the same as a “point,” a unit widely used in the printing industry. It is not exactly the same as a point, however; there is no universal definition of a point.
Apple shipped PostScript in their LaserWriter laser printer, other companies followed suite, making PostScript the de facto printing language and 72 points/in the standard digital measure. The W3 consortium used the same measure in CSS and SVG2, Inkscape is an SVG editor, and that's all she wrote.
Whenever I need to mess with units of measure, I turn to Frink. Frink is a Turing-complete language with really good unit of measure support:
oldinch := surveyfoot / 12 // pre 1959 inch
35 cm / (996 pts) -> oldinch / pts
0.013834839357429718876
The author does also does incredibly thorough research on the history of units measurements. Here's what the Frink data file says about points:
point := 0.013837ee0 inch // exact, NIST Handbook 44, Appendix 3
printerspoint := point
texscaledpoint := 1/65536 point // The TeX typesetting system uses
texsp := texscaledpoint // this for all computations.
computerpoint := 1/72 inch // The American point was rounded
computerpica := 12 computerpoint // to an even 1/72 inch by computer
postscriptpoint := computerpoint // people at some point.
Well, now we know what that "some point" is!
Now we also know that the definitions of texscaledpoint is (gasp) wrong.
realtexpoint := 1/72.27 inch
realtexsp := 1/65536 realtexpoint
(realtexsp - texsp)
5.36285100578e-17 m (length)
(realtexsp - texsp) / realtexsp
1.0000000000005691827e-8
The Frink definition is off by about 50 attometers, or approximately 3% of the width of a proton.
guardianworldnews_feed) wrote2026-05-13 04:03 pmWatchdog to examine whether Reform UK leader should have declared sum he received before entering parliament
Nigel Farage is facing a formal investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog over a £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
The Reform UK leader received the money weeks before announcing he would stand as a candidate in the 2024 general election.
Continue reading...guardianworldnews_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:57 pmNo 10 confirms Streeting is still health secretary despite reports he could launch a leadership bid as early as tomorrow
Libby Brooks is the Guardian’s Scotland correspondent.
An odd dispute of interpretation has emerged overnight between the Scottish and UK governments. Yesterday evening a Scottish government spokesperson announced that, during a call between first minister John Swinney and prime minister Kier Starmer, both parties agreed to meet face to face next month to discuss a referendum on independence.
It is particularly welcome that the prime minister agreed to meet next month to discuss a referendum on independence.
The PM committed to meeting to discussed shared issues including the cost of living.
As the PM told the first minister, the manifesto this government was elected on was unambiguous that ‘Labour does not support independence or another referendum’. Our position remains unchanged.
We, in Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, had a devastating set of election results and we were simply unable to articulate our offering, or indeed critique, of the SNP government because of the noise created at the centre.
Therefore, we became, and the prime minister became, the inadvertent midwife of a fifth-term SNP government. And that scenario you saw then, people waiting for a speech to try and articulate his new direction, a strategy, and it simply was not forthcoming.
This is not one faction of the Labour party. This is about the Labour party articulating, I think, now a commonly held view that this is unsustainable and unstable.
Continue reading...guardianworldnews_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:55 pmExclusive: Doctors say ‘highly concerning’ poll highlights risk to patients of turning to AI for medical advice
One in seven people are using AI chatbots for health advice instead of seeing their GP, a UK study has found.
The poll of more than 2,000 people found that – of the 15% turning to chatbots – one in four had done so because of long NHS waiting lists.
Continue reading...guardianworldnews_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:54 pmBeloved animated series will return for 36th season in the fall after telecoms giant Bell Media reaches deal with Disney
Fans of Les Simpson have a message for anyone who doubted the future of the beloved and long-running Québécois version of the animated satirical show: Mange de la crotte.
Les Simpson will return for its 36th season in the fall after telecoms giant Bell Media said it had reached an agreement with Disney for the rights to air and dub the show. The deal caps nearly a year of uncertainty surrounding the adaptation, which is beloved in Canada’s lone francophone province.
Continue reading...guardianworldnews_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:53 pmAll I want is someone to help me spend my money without treating me with contempt. Thank goodness for those small, independent shops – they nail it every time
Let us all rise to acclaim the local shop, the little independent establishment that always seems to have exactly what you went in for. These places are not many in number, so we must be sure to celebrate those that remain with us. Their prices might – might – be a little higher than a bloated multiple owned by some faceless private equity operation, but surely, if this is the case, it is a price worth paying.
I find most shopping rather like watching my football team – a reliable source of disappointment. It’s not that I’m a particularly exacting customer. All I ask is for someone to serve me; ideally someone who doesn’t appear unhappy about taking my money off me. If they’re actively cheerful, helpful or knowledgable, so much the better. It’s not much to ask, is it? When I tell you what I’m looking for, please don’t look at me like an idiot for asking. In a health food shop the other day, I enquired as to the whereabouts of the nut roasts and she looked at me as if I’d asked for moonrock.
Continue reading...guardianworldnews_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:49 pmHeavy rain in Northampton meant that no play was possible in the second ODI
We go again. Inspection at 2.40pm BST.
Forgive the self-promotion but here’s my interview with Sonny Baker last year. He’s one of the new names in the Test squad.
Continue reading...guardianworldnews_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:49 pmNew rules would enable single-ticket bookings across multiple rail operators throughout Europe
Cross-border train journeys through several European countries are the stuff of many a holidaymaker’s dreams.
But the reality of trying to buy the tickets, navigating multiple websites without knowing who can help if a connection is missed, can prove less than relaxing. As one MEP puts it, it can often require “five tabs, three apps and a prayer”.
Continue reading...guardianworldnews_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:23 pmStrikes killed at least six people as Moscow and Kyiv trade long-range attacks after brief ceasefire
Russia targeted Ukraine with more than 800 drones in a large-scale daytime assault that killed at least six people on Wednesday, hours after a previous deadly barrage.
The strikes came as Kyiv and Moscow traded long-range attacks after a brief ceasefire, and despite the latest suggestion from Donald Trump that the war could soon come to an end.
Continue reading...guardianworldnews_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:00 pmJustices said decision was due to ‘improper external influences on the jury’ by a court clerk during the trial
The South Carolina supreme court on Wednesday overturned the murder convictions of Alex Murdaugh, the disgraced South Carolina attorney, due to “shocking jury interference” and ordered a new trial in the 2021 killing of his wife and son.
“Our justice system provides – indeed demands – that every person is entitled to a fair trial, which includes an impartial jury untainted by external forces bent on influencing the jury toward a biased verdict,” the justices wrote in a unanimous opinion.
Continue reading...bbc_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:49 pmbbc_feed) wrote2026-05-13 03:36 pm