Chris Tedder Wrote:
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> fmetrol,
>
> The finger marked off into at least 12 divisions
> enabled the person responsible for measuring the
> heights of the Nile to keep accurate records with
> heights measured down to fractions of a finger -
> the records show they recorded the height of the
> Nile down to 1/4 of a finger (about 5mm) - other
> fractions recorded are 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 of a finger.
> It would be very difficult to visually distinguish
> between 2/3 and 3/4 of a finger without some kind
> of aid, but 12 divisions marked out on the scale
> is a simple practical way of ensuring accurate
> measurements.

You have mentioned four fractions only, Each would be easily distinguishable to a trained eye including the difference between 2/3rds and 3/4. The question would be is it about 2/3rds or is it slightly more. They thought in threes and calculated by halving and doubling.
>
> The divisions need not have been marked on the
> scale itself. A small ruler with the divisions of
> a finger marked out could have been placed over
> the scale and used as an aid to record the height
> down to a fraction of a finger.

Possible but to do without is to count how often 2/3rds occurs in the texts. They were trained in threes.

> Normally the heights were recorded as so many
> cubits, palms and fingers (down to a fraction of a
> finger), but one record from Dyn 2, is expressed
> as a fraction of a cubit - 3 2/3 cubits.
> Expressed in the usual way, this would be 3 cubits
> 4 palms 2 2/3 fingers. The scribe who recorded
> the measurement probably realized that 4 palms 2
> 2/3 fingers was 2/3 of a cubit so he simply
> recorded it this way. Another height was recorded
> to a fraction of a palm - 1 2/3 palms, which again
> expressed in the usual way would be I palm 2 2/3
> fingers.

How many different versions of the cubit sign are there?
What refers to what?

> As for AE architectural design, four textual
> examples from the Old Kingdom, show that in these
> examples at least, designers specified
> measurements in whole numbers and multiples of 10,
> 100, 1000 cubits for primary large measurements.
> A walled estate of Metjen, a high official who
> died in the reign of Khufu's father, Sneferu, was
> 200 x 200 cubits. The plan of the Dyn 4 tomb of
> Debehen was designed with specified measurements
> of 100 x 50 cubits - a 1:2 rectangle. A text from
> the Dyn 5 Sun Temple of Niuserra mentions a stone
> structure with a length of 7000 cubits. The
> ground plan for Izezi's Dyn 5 Sed festival
> enclosure was 1000 x 440 cubits.

see above

> Inclines were specified down to fractions of a
> palm or palms / fingers, but I doubt the master
> builders / architects needed to specify
> measurements down to a fraction of a finger very
> often. A plan of an enclosure from Dyn 18 has the
> width, 23 cubits, 2 palms and 2 fingers (about
> 12.2m). However, this is probably not a designed
> measurement, but a record of an ancient Egyptian
> survey of an existing structure.