[OASIS Issue Tracker] Commented: (OFFICE-2770) Needs-Discussion:6.16.18 Convert: Definition of Pica should be 1/6 in.

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    [ http://tools.oasis-open.org/issues/browse/OFFICE-2770?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=19492#action_19492 ] 

David Wheeler  commented on OFFICE-2770:
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In Excel 2007 (and I believe Excel 2010), =CONVERT(1,"in","Pica")*72, Excel gives 1 as a result.  Thus, "pica" and "Pica" are different in Excel 2010, where "pica" (lowercase) is the traditional pica of 1/6 inch, while "Pica" (initial uppercase) is the pica point (aka Postscript point or DTP point) of 1/72 inch.

Note that Excel 2007 only supports "Pica" (pica points), and most other spreadsheet implementations only support "Pica" (1/72 inch).  I think we have to support "Pica" as at least one of the legal names for 1/72 inch, so that existing spreadsheets can be interpreted correctly.  However, having only "Pica" as the unit name for something that's not even picas is problematic.  I believe that we should add another unit name for Pica points that is less ambiguous, so that over time people can move to that newer name.

Add "picapt" as alternative representation for "Pica points", and add "pica" as 1/6 inch.  Add the same for area and volume.
(This capitalization is different

So here's my proposal, which builds on Eike's earlier proposal:

In the function CONVERT (currently 6.6.18), in the distance row with "Pica":
Change unit symbol:
  "Pica"
to:
 "Pica" or "picapt"
Change description:
  Pica (1/72 in.)
to:
  Pica point (1/72 inch)

Under that, add a new entry:
Unit symbol:
  "pica"
Description:
  Pica (1/6 inch); note that this is different from a Pica point.

In the "Area" and "Volume" sections, make equivalent changes
(change "Pica" to "Pica point" in descriptions, add "pica" and "picapt" squared and cubed;
clearly these measurements aren't common, but we need to be consistent).

PROPOSE-RESOLVED


> Needs-Discussion: 6.16.18 Convert: Definition of Pica should be 1/6 in.
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: OFFICE-2770
>                 URL: http://tools.oasis-open.org/issues/browse/OFFICE-2770
>             Project: OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) TC
>          Issue Type: Bug
>          Components: OpenFormula
>    Affects Versions: ODF 1.2 CD 05
>            Reporter: Eric Patterson
>            Priority: Minor
>
> Typically, there are are 72 points to the inch and 12 points per Pica.  A Pica should be 1/6 Inch.

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