DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15#0078
68 THE GREAT PYRAMID.
not bound to have a square base for the pyramid ;
they might have had an oblong or a triangular
base, and so forth—all which accords very ill with
the enthusiastic language in which the selection
of a square base had on other accounts been
applauded.
Next let us consider the height of the pyramid.
According to the best modern measurements, it
would seem that the height when the pyra-
mid terminated above in a pointed apex, must
have been about 486 feet. And from the com-
parison of the best estimates of the base side with
the best estimates of the height, it seems very
likely indeed that the intention of the builders was
to make the height bear to the perimeter of the
base the same ratio which the radius of a circle
bears to the circumference. Remembering the range
any other digit in the number expressing the ratio of circumference
to diameter of a circle, he proceeds : ' A correspondent of my friend
Piazzi Smjth notices that 3 is the number of most frequency, and
that 3¡f is the nearest approximation to it in simple digits. Professor .
Smyth, whose work on Egypt is paradox of a very high order,
backed by a great quantity of useful labour, the results of which will
be made available by those who do not receive the paradoxes, is
inclined to see confirmation for some of his theory in these pheno-
mena.' In passing, I may mention as the most singular of these
accidental digit relations which I have yet noticed, that in the first
110 digits of the square root of 2, the number 7 occurs more than
twice as often as either 5 or 9, which each occur eight times, I and 2
occurring each nine times, and 7 occurring no less than eighteen times.
not bound to have a square base for the pyramid ;
they might have had an oblong or a triangular
base, and so forth—all which accords very ill with
the enthusiastic language in which the selection
of a square base had on other accounts been
applauded.
Next let us consider the height of the pyramid.
According to the best modern measurements, it
would seem that the height when the pyra-
mid terminated above in a pointed apex, must
have been about 486 feet. And from the com-
parison of the best estimates of the base side with
the best estimates of the height, it seems very
likely indeed that the intention of the builders was
to make the height bear to the perimeter of the
base the same ratio which the radius of a circle
bears to the circumference. Remembering the range
any other digit in the number expressing the ratio of circumference
to diameter of a circle, he proceeds : ' A correspondent of my friend
Piazzi Smjth notices that 3 is the number of most frequency, and
that 3¡f is the nearest approximation to it in simple digits. Professor .
Smyth, whose work on Egypt is paradox of a very high order,
backed by a great quantity of useful labour, the results of which will
be made available by those who do not receive the paradoxes, is
inclined to see confirmation for some of his theory in these pheno-
mena.' In passing, I may mention as the most singular of these
accidental digit relations which I have yet noticed, that in the first
110 digits of the square root of 2, the number 7 occurs more than
twice as often as either 5 or 9, which each occur eight times, I and 2
occurring each nine times, and 7 occurring no less than eighteen times.