Mathematics has always played an important role in architecture, in the past just as in the present. Despite this continuity, however, reconstructing exactly how the relationship between architecture and mathematics worked in an ancient culture may prove rather complicated. An investigation into the way architecture and mathematics interacted in the past, in ancient Egypt as well as in other cultures, may be misled by three main sets of tangled problems. The first is generated by our expectations of the results of such a research; the second depends on the reliability of the drawings used to test or ‘discover’ a theory; and the third stems from the way mathematics is employed during the research.

Regarding the first point, it is evident that in ancient monuments people have found all they wanted to find in terms of mathematical concepts and geometrical figures. A small-scale plan, a ruler, a compass and a bit of imagination are enough to ‘discover’ several mathematical relationships in the design of any building. This does not imply, however, that the ancient architects based their reasoning on the same points, nor that they were aware of all of the possible interpretations of their plans.

A second point concerns the drawings employed in this type of study. The habit of using mainly plans to analyse the proportions of buildings may produce a dangerous distance between the actual monument and its schematic representation.