Well I didn't know what part of my post Dave was referring to as a canard. It was however meant to be a referral to the thoughts of Gillings so I cannot claim otherwise.
I will in future be more careful how I word my posts and if I quote I will use quotation marks
Thanks for yours and Warwick's concern and I did wonder at your wording of "AE architectural proportion"
Anyway I disagree with Dave. I believe Gillings nailed it with his two rules. It's something I have thought deeply about over the last few years.
The two rules are:
" ... their mathematics was based on two very elementary concepts. The first was their complete knowledge of the twice times table, and the second, their ability to find two-thirds of any number, whether integral or fractional. Upon these two very simple foundations the whole structure of Egyptian mathematics was erected, ... "
more:
"This two-thirds table was so much part of the scribe's stock in trade that, were he required to find one third of a number, he would first find two-thirds of it and then halve his answer, instead of just dividing by 3. The technique was so ingrained that we find it actually being used for such simple operations as finding one-third of 3, and one-third of 1! (see RMP 25 and 67.)."
Richard J. Gillings Mathematics in the time of the Pharaohs.
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books.google.com]
Graham