Dave,

Could you tell me where this Petrie quote from? He is prescient as ever.

Two things to note - first, the Phi proportion shows up as a consequence of the "systematic" use of the circle in OK pyramid design. As I've said before, these designs were based on squaring the circle in terms of both area and circumference - and when employing this algorithm a variety of ratios, Phi among them, will be found to be completely and totally resultant.

The second point is that part of the intention of the pyramid design process was to satisfy a number of "ma'at" objectives simultaneously. Therefore, what is often seen in these pyramids is that certain as-built lengths or angles were adjusted ever so slightly from that predicted by their original design diagram (usually) in order to allow certain lengths to become a whole number of cubits, though at times this was done to provide some other desired and nearby correlation. To do so was not seen as a contradiction by the AE mind - their thinking was not in terms of 'either- or', but in terms of 'both - and'. Accomodating more than one bird with one stone was the most fitting and brilliant thing an architect could do, and indeed was a large part of the entire mission.

Best, Lee Cooper

PS - Good luck with your book!