Egyptians standard measure of length

Standard systems of measure are essential for commerce engineering, and science. Around 3000 BC, ancient Egyptian scholars develop the cubit, a standard measure of length. The word cubit, meaning “elbow” is also of Latin origin.

Define as the length of an arm from the elbow to the tip of the thumb, the cubit measures approximately 18 inches (46 cm), while the royal cubit was the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, equal to 52.5 cm.

Since the cubit was the length of a forearm and Egyptian men were of varied height and arm length, there were different cubit units.

In the Vedic tradition, the cubit was called the aratni (elbow) and the half cubit was called the vitasti (hand span). Egyptologists have shown that the base of the Great Pyramid was measured carefully using an integral number of Egyptians cubits and hence an integral number of Egyptians digits.
Egyptians standard measure of length