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Calculating the angle

2-3 minutes

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Calculating the pyramid angle: seked-measurements

Sources for the seked

There are no written sources on this question from the

Old Kingdom, but it does feature in the largest surviving
mathematical manual (British Museum EA 10057-10058
and fragments Brooklyn Museum 37.1784E). The
manual dates about 1550 BC and is copied, according to
its opening lines, from an earlier document, probably of
the Middle Kingdom (from the language and
vocabulary).

The seked

In the manual the word seked denotes the horizontal

deplacement for each given unit of height. In Middle
Kingdom measurements, the standard unit for linear
measurements is the cubit (equivalent to about 52 cm):
each cubit was divided into 7 palms of about 7.5 cm
each, and each palm was further divided into 4 finger-
breadths. For the seked, the cubit is taken as the
reference height, and the seked is given in palms and
fingers.
Examples

5 1/2 = Great Pyramid, Khufu | 5 1/4 = pyramid of Khafre

In her doctoral dissertation, Corinna Rossi defines the

motive stimulating pyramid construction by the simple
and convincing formula 'maximum height for minimum
width'. In the seked, the Egyptians are formulating the
same principle in numerical form, aiming for the
minimum seked possible with the materials and
technology at their disposal. When the scale of pyramids
is reduced drastically, it allows a much sleeper slope,
giving the characteristic profile of New Kingdom (about
1550-1069 BC) and later pyramids (note though the
retention of the gentler slope in Memphite New Kingdom
pyramidia, perhaps under the influence of the Old
Kingdom monuments still dominating the landscape in
that part of Egypt). The formula also explains the
selection of the Middle Kingdom and later obelisk, where
a single shaft of granite raises the pyramid-cap over the
temple enclosure walls.

Rossi 1999

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