The following message is a courtesy copy of an article
that has been posted to comp.text.tex as well.

Vladimir Volovich asks about the appearance of the
Aring, where exactly the ring should be placed in
relation to the A -- like other accents, or closer
to the A without a gap.

One of the principal models used by Knuth in deciding
on the appearance of various things for TeX was the
Swedish journal "Acta Mathematica".  I assume (though
I don't have first-hand experience) that the Aring
was not uncommon in its pages, and Knuth followed
that model.  Someone who has access to old issues
(from the days when it was set from metal type) could
check the appearance of the Aring there.
-- bb