LINE RATE CONVERSIONS
These examples use the most commonly interpreted definitions for gross and character lines. For all examples that use the word "character", a "character" is defined as a character that is printed on a page and includes spaces and carriage returns. This is also known as a "visual" character: if the character does not appear on a printed page, it is not counted. No extra characters are included or allowed for creating formatting.
GROSS LINE TO 65 CHARACTER LINE
On average, a hospital report typed in 12 point courier with 1" margins contains about 45 characters per line. To find the conversion factor to convert a gross line to a 65 character line, divide 65 by 45 to get a ratio of 1.44.
[gross line] x 1.44 = [65 character line]
Example: convert 12 cents a gross line to a 65 character line.
12 x 1.44 = 17.28 cents a 65 character line.
GROSS LINE TO 65 CHARACTER LINE
To find the conversion factor to convert a 65 character line to a gross line, reverse the ratio: divide 45 by 65 to get a ratio of .69.
[65 character line] x .69 = [gross line]
Example: convert 7 cents a 65 character line to a gross line.
7 x .69 = 4.83 cents a gross line.
CHARACTER LINE TO CHARACTER LINE
First, figure out the cost per character. To do this divide the total cost per line by the number of characters in the line.
[total cost per line] / [characters per line] = cost per character
Then multiply the cost per character by the number of characters in the line.
Example: convert 9 cents a 100 character line to a 65 character line.
.09 x 65 = 5.85 cents a 65 character line.