Jammer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MJ
>
> Very interesting points. Thanks for them...
>
> When you were posting the measurements of the
> passage I thought about measuring stairs;
> carpenters divide the risers into the total height
> so they are all equal, and the runners into the
> total length so they are all equal, and the actual
> length of a staircase laid flat is...
> whatever it is!
>
> I wonder if the perhaps seked was the critical
> part of a sloped passage, not the final length?

Hello Jammer,

As you know, the seked was 1 royal cubit rise to X palms run.
The Rhind, Moscow et al papyri make no mention of the hypotenuse.
I have found (after many, many years of trial and error) that whoever planned/designed Khufu's pyramid had no interest in the sloping length of a passage as such.
His concern was clearly with its vertical rise and horizontal run, making the length of the slope a natural product.
This applies not only to the Descending Passage, Ascending Passage, and Grand Gallery but also the King's Chamber and Queen's Chamber shafts.

To give an example of what I mean, it is usually presumed that the length of the Ascending Passage (starting from the floor of the Decending Passage)was intended to be 75 royal cubits.
True, at 1546.8" the actual measurement is very close to 75 royal cubits, but this had no significance to its planner/designer.
What mattered to him was the vertical height and the horizontal length, which I theorise was intended to be respectively 32.945 royal cubits (679.7", actual = 679.6") and 67.353 royal cubits - 1389.6", actual = 1389.6").

I hope this is of some help to you.

Regards,

MJ

We can't all be right, but we could all be wrong ...