Superscript size percentage

Question

Hey gang,I’ve been meaning to ask this question for 26+ years: In Preferences > Advanced Type > Character Settings… why are Superscript and Subscript size settings set to 58.3% ? Is that size arbitrary? Is there any typesetting history behind that oddly-specific size choice?

Mike Witherell · Answer

Interestingly, 58.3% is a ratio of 7/12 on the character size scaling factor. The position is up 33%, or 4/12. That adds up to 11/12 the scale of the text size.

Still wondering how ancient this calculation might be. One internet bot says this was the way QXP did it.

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