# 6 lines in one inch

I am writing a proposal to the National Science Foundation, and they require no more than 6 lines in one-inch vertical spaces, with 11 pt sized Computer Modern fonts.

I am using the `article` document class, and playing around with

``````\linespread{0.9}
\selectfont
``````

I was wondering if there is a way that I can make it sure that there are no more than 6 lines in one-inch vertical spaces, perhaps using something like `\fontsize{10}{12}`? There might be some ways to compute the font size and the maximum possible line spacing to make it sure no more than 6 lines.

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The first line occupies 11pt (the topskip); it remains to distribute five lines in 61.27pt. The normal baselineskip is 13.6pt.

(61.27/5)/13.6 = 0.901

Therefore `\linespread{0.901}` is what you need. If you use ten point size, you have to do nothing or say `\linespread{1.03}`; indeed 10+5*12=70 and 72.27/70=1.03.

The first line on a page is set so that its baseline is `\topskip` far from the upper margin of the area reserved for the text block. LaTeX sets the topskip equal to the main document size. Such a distance is used also in a `\parbox` or a `minipage` (from the imaginary upper end of the box).

Assuming that you're using a `minipage` for the text, the computation has to be done for five lines occupying 1in - topskip, in order to establish the fixed distance between consecutive baselines.

Yes: one inch is 72.27pt.

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Thanks. I would assume 1in=72.27pt. Could you explain more about the `topskip`? I didn't understand why you extracted 11pt in the first step. Are you calculating for 6 lines and 5 spaces? –  FEQ Jul 22 '11 at 16:14
Thanks for the update. If I `\setlength{\topskip}{0mm}`, then the right computation for 6 lines and 6 spaces would be simply (72.27/6)/13.6 = 0.885661765. Am I right? –  FEQ Jul 22 '11 at 16:29
I had one more question. If I would really need 6 lines and 5 spaces in one inch, how should I do? –  FEQ Jul 22 '11 at 16:33