A "pica" is a unit of measurement commonly used in typography and desktop publishing to represent the size of text, fonts, and other elements on a printed page. The pica is part of a system of measurement used in the field of typesetting, which involves arranging and designing text for printed materials.
In the pica system:
1 pica (abbreviated as "p") is equal to 12 points. 1 point (abbreviated as "pt") is approximately equal to 1/72nd of an inch.
So, 1 pica is roughly equal to 1/6th of an inch.
This system is based on the traditional point system used in printing, where a point is a very small unit of measurement. Picas and points are still widely used in the design and printing industry, especially when specifying font sizes, line spacing, and other layout details for printed materials like books, magazines, and newspapers.
In digital design and modern desktop publishing software, you can often switch between using picas and points or other units like inches, millimeters, or pixels to set and adjust the layout of text and graphic elements.
A rod is a unit of length used in some systems of measurement, primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. In the U.S. customary system, one rod is equal to 16.5 feet or 5.0292 meters. It is also equivalent to 1/4 of a chain, which is another traditional unit of length.
Rods were historically used for land measurement, particularly in surveying and real estate. In some cases, you may still come across the use of rods in property descriptions, especially in rural or agricultural areas. However, the use of the rod as a standard unit of measurement has become less common in favor of more standardized systems like the metric system or the U.S. customary system based on feet and yards.