Lars Eighner's Homepage Writers' Workshop FAQ: Q. Why is Courier 10 the same as Courier 12-point and Courier 12 the same as Courier 10-point?

Q. Why is Courier 10 the same as Courier 12-point and Courier 12 the same as Courier 10-point?

A. There are two concepts involved here: characters per inch, and point size. Courier 10-pitch is 10 characters per inch. By coincidence this is what you get with 12-point Courier.

On the other hand, Courier 12-pitch is 12 characters per inch, which is about the same as 10-point. The moral of this story is: know which system your word processor uses in referring to type sizes. Some use both systems, so you have to be sure you know which is which. Characters per inch is sometimes called "pitch." Ten pitch is 10 characters per inch.

By the way, you might think from this that there are 120 points per inch.

Not so. There are about 72 points per inch. The 12 of "12-point" (if used correctly) refers to how tall the typeface is. In most faces the most attractive width for most characters that are 12-point high is about 7 points. Incidentally, no regular alphabetic or numerical character in 12-point type is 12 points high. The 12 points is the distance from the top of the tallest characters to the bottom of the tails of the lowercase characters that have tails.

Since point size refers to how tall the type is, no particular relationship holds between point size and width. Especially in display sizes (i.e. "headline" size) most type families have an extended form which is much wider than usual and a condensed form that is much narrower. In the old days, it was expensive to keep fonts that were seldom used, but with computerized fonts, it is common to have many variations available, including some that no sane person would want to use for anything.

Look for Courier 10-cpi or 10-pitch or Courier 12-point or a similar nonproportional font.