- Points in typography have varied historically due to different national and industry standards, leading to multiple definitions.
- LaTeX uses a point of 1/72.27 inches (0.3515 mm), while Inkscape uses 1/72 inches (0.3528 mm), a 0.4% difference.
- The US standardized the point around the late 19th century, but exact values were inconsistent until TeX adopted 72.27 pt per inch.
- PostScript and later technologies like CSS and SVG adopted 72 points per inch, making it the digital standard.
- Donald Knuth adjusted TeX's point to 1/72.27 inches for calculation simplicity, despite a tiny discrepancy with the official printer's point.
- The Frink language offers precise unit support but its definition of TeX points shows an error of about 50 attometers.