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The original number of courses is an unknown, and some, as already mentioned
have been lost since the time of Greaves. In his time he reports the upper platform as
some 13 feet wide, or 156 inches; whilst in Petrie's time he gives the then size of the
platform as ranging on a side from 214 to 224 inches. From Petrie's plate VIII the
203rd course top is 5451.8 inches from the base, or some 324 inches from Petrie's
theoretical height for the pyramid of some 5776.0 +/- 7 inches. Not surprisingly, the
upper courses are built of more manageable sized stone, with the top six courses
ranging from 21.4 to 22.8 inches in thickness at the north east, giving a mean
thickness of 22 inches. A major unknown is the size of any pyramidion; with few
surviving examples, it's difficult to suggest what sized pyramidion was fitted. The
reconstructed one by the Red Pyramid, is about 1m high, whilst the impressive one
found by the Black Pyramid is about 1.3m (51.2 inches) high. If we added a further 12
courses of 22 inches, this would leave 60 inches (1.52m) for a pyramidion. Given the
grand scale of the Great Pyramid and their skill, we could have a 3 cubit high pyramid
added to these 12 courses for a total number of courses of 215 plus pyramidion: but
this can only be a guessing game.