A possible use of the cubit rod in Ancient Egypt to measure and draw lengths based on fractions

TL;DR

This paper explores how Ancient Egyptian architects and surveyors might have used the cubit rod with fractional partitions to achieve precise measurements, contrasting it with modern decimal notation.

Contribution

It proposes a new interpretation of the cubit rod's use, emphasizing fractional measurements over decimal notation in Ancient Egypt.

Findings

The cubit rod could facilitate highly accurate fractional measurements.

Fractional partitions on the rod align with ancient Egyptian calculation methods.

The approach offers insights into ancient measurement techniques.

Abstract

We will discuss about a possible method of using the cubit rod by the architects and the surveyors of Ancient Egypt to measure and draw lengths, comparing it with the other interpretations present in Literature. Instead of the modern decimal notation, which sees the use of comma to represent a number or a measure, at that time there was a wide use of fractions in calculations. The current work proposes that, through the cubit rod and its partitions of the finger into fractions, it could be possible to obtain very accurate measurements.