Convert Pica (pica) to Centiinch (cin) instantly.
About these units
Pica (pica)
A pica is another typographic unit, equal to 12 points, or 1/6 of an inch, making it larger and more suited to structural layout than to fine detail. Picas are commonly used to measure text blocks, column widths, margins, and line lengths in print and digital page design. The pica originated alongside the point in printing traditions stretching back to the 18th and 19th centuries. It offered a convenient intermediate scale—small enough for precise adjustments but large enough for practical page design. When newspapers became widespread, picas helped designers rapidly calculate column grids and organize dense printed pages. Even as publishing tools evolved into software like Adobe InDesign and LaTeX, picas remain deeply integrated into the workflow of book designers, typographers, and professional printers. They are part of a system that allows page elements to be arranged with precision, ensuring that every visual aspect of a document aligns harmoniously.
Centiinch (cin)
A centiinch is 1/100 of an inch, making it a small but straightforward derivative of the imperial system. Although seldom used today, it historically appeared in precision engineering, machining, and scientific instruments that relied on extremely fine calibrations before widespread adoption of decimal-based units like millimeters. Because the inch was long established in many English-speaking industries, dividing it into 100 equal parts provided a convenient decimal alternative to the more cumbersome 1/8 or 1/16 subdivisions found in carpentry and early tooling. The centiinch never gained strong traction, particularly once the metric system became dominant for precision work. However, it remains an interesting footnote in the evolution of measurement, illustrating attempts to reconcile the decimal preference with traditional imperial standards.