Bottom margin vs. descenders question

[Axel E. Retif]

On 7/7/20 11:22 AM, Peter Flynn wrote:

> On 07/07/2020 12:59, Axel E. Retif wrote:

>> The *actual* text box (in movable type, Linotype or TeX) is bigger;
>> for example, one can not say we want a text box of 42 picas (504
>> points) in height and a baselineskip of 13 points (that would mean
>> 38.769... lines): either you have a box of 494 points (41.167 picas)
>> to get 38 lines, or 507 points (42.25 picas) for 39 lines; the latter
>> will give you about 42 picas of *visual* height to the baseline.
> 
> I wish all designers were sufficiently good at simple mathematics to be 
> able to compute this accurately. I cannot count the number of times I 
> have been given a formal specification by a publisher that literally 
> does not add up.

I thought I had taken the advice to give the height in points (as a 
multiple of baselineskip) from Knuth himself, but I skimmed The TeXbook 
and couldn't find it. Maybe it's there... I'll keep looking.


Best

Axel