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Date:         Mon, 5 May 2014 01:08:37 +0200
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From: Heiko Oberdiek <heiko.oberdiek@GOOGLEMAIL.COM>
Subject: \__dim_strip_bp:n
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Status: R

Hello,

macro \__dim_strip_bp:n is defined in l3skip.dtx the following way:

  \cs_new:Npn \__dim_strip_bp:n #1
    { \__dim_strip_pt:n { 0.996 26 \__dim_eval:w #1 \__dim_eval_end: } }

The calculation from bp to bp is essentially:

    \dimexpr 0.99626\dimexpr #1\relax\relax

Of course, there will always be rounding errors, but the code
can be improved by a scaling operation inside e-TeX's \dimexpr,
from "The e-TeX manual":

| The arithmetic operations are performed individually, except
| for =91scaling=92 operations (a multiplication immediately followed
| by a division) which are performed as one combined operation
| with a 64-bit product as intermediate value.

Improved version with higher precision:

  \cs_new:Npn \__dim_strip_bp:n #1
    {
      \__dim_strip_pt:n
        {
          \__dim_eval:w ( #1 ) * 800 / 803 \__dim_eval_end:
        }
    }

* 800/803 is the integer fraction for 72/72.27
* The parentheses around #1 ensure, that #1 is
  calculated first.

Yours sincerely
  Heiko Oberdiek