The micrometre (American spelling micrometer) is a unit of length and is a multiple of the SI unit metre. It uses the symbol μm.
It represents one millionth of a metre and is also known by its previously depreciated name micron.
In the US, the term 'micron' helped distinguish the unit name from the device 'micrometer' but the International System of Units (SI) discontinued this term in favour of micrometre as the prefix system required the use of the Greek symbol 'μ' which invoked the factor x10−6.
The pica is a unit of length in the field of typography and uses the symbol pc.
There are 12 points in 1 pica. 1 pica represents approximately 1/6 of an inch.
Picas are expressed using numbers and a lower case p on software such as Adobe InDesign - for example 8p6 which would represent 8 picas and 6 points (or 8.5 picas).
The Pica is very useful in measuring and calculating the space needed to print letters and words on paper - for example when laying out books or magazine articles; the font lengths are quanitified by the number of characters per pica (cpp).