A lateral tolerance specifies the amount by which a dimension can vary. By specifying
tolerances in manufacturing, you can control the degree of accuracy needed for a feature.
A feature is some aspect of a part, such as a point, line, axis, or surface.

You can apply tolerances directly to a dimension by appending the tolerances to the
dimension text. These dimension tolerances indicate the largest and smallest permissible
size of the dimension. You can also apply geometric tolerances, which indicate deviations
of form, profile, orientation, location, and runout.

Lateral tolerances can be specified from theoretically exact measurements. These
are called basic dimensions and have a box drawn around them.

If the dimension value can vary in both directions, the plus and minus values you
supply are appended to the dimension value as deviation tolerances. If the deviation
tolerance values are equal, they are displayed with a آ± sign and they are known as
symmetrical. Otherwise, the plus value goes above the minus value.

If the tolerances are applied as limits, the program uses the plus and minus values
you supply to calculate a maximum and minimum value. These values replace the dimension
value. If you specify limits, the upper limit goes above the lower.

Format Lateral Tolerances

You can control the vertical placement of tolerance values relative to the main dimension
text. Tolerances can align with the top, middle, or bottom of the dimension text.

Along with vertical placement of tolerance values, you can also control the horizontal
alignment of the upper and lower tolerance values. The upper and lower tolerance values
can be aligned using either the operational symbols or decimal separators.

You can also control zero suppression as you can with the primary and alternate units.
Suppressing zeros in lateral tolerances has the same effect as suppressing them in
the primary and alternate units. If you suppress leading zeros, 0.5 becomes .5, and
if you suppress trailing zeros, 0.5000 becomes 0.5.