When confronted with an unfamiliar number, I use various strategies to try to identify it. If someone wants to try their hand at Munck’s style of math and have their own adventures with it, they may often encounter numbers that they’re not sure belong to the system of numbers or not.
When we can take an unfamiliar number and turn it back into something familiar by means of an obvious tool, we know we’re still within the system, and we know we’re generally helping to keep the system fine-tuned and on-track.
Likewise, when working with raw data, we can use the same analytical probes to refine the raw data by recognizing which numbers were likely intended, provided this ancient system of numbers was as universally distributed as it very much seems. (I’ve found the same style of math and the same design logic seemingly at work in data for ancient Greek architecture and in ancient Mesoamerican architecture as in ancient Egyptian architecture).
Here then are some of the most important analytical probes I use
2^n. I don’t know how many times simply doubling or halving an unfamiliar number by 2 or 2 x 2 or 2 x 2 x 2 etc turns it into something recognizable so we can see we haven’t strayed too far from the path. Other simple numbers may also function well for this such as 3^n, 4^n, 5^n, or 6^n but I’m not much in that habit of that even if perhaps I should be.
Select Pi Fractions: Pi/3 and Pi/6 can be powerful analytical probes, even when other simple fractions of Pi like Pi/2 or Pi/4 may not be. Pi/3 can coordinate some remarkable series of important numbers.
The Circular Numbers, based on the elementary mathematics of a circle: 360, 2 Pi, and 360 / 2 Pi = the Radian 57.29577951. 2 Pi is often an extremely powerful analytic probe and data extraction tool, but the last three years especially I’ve come to realize how powerful 360 and 57.29577591 can be as well.
Alternate Pi 1.177245771. Munck introduced this number and the name “Alternate Pi” and at one point expressed a preference for it even over the Pi ratio itself. I sympathize. It’s a very powerful tool for converting unfamiliar numbers into familiar ones, and linking up important numbers into series that are revealed by applying 1.177245771^n
Alternate Phi 1.622311470. Munck introduced this number in one of his newsletters and wondered if it could be an ancient form of Phi. He is probably exactly right. I therefore took the liberty of christening it “Alternate Phi”.
Another very powerful tool for identifying unfamiliar constants and linking up important numbers into series by applying 1.622311470^n. This seems to be even more heavily involved in ancient calendar systems than Alternate Pi 1.177245771 is.
I’ve been finding out lately how powerful some obvious variations on 1.622311470 can be. 2 / 1.622311470 = 1.232808888 may be even more powerful than 1.622311470 itself. Since I started working seriously with Mayan architecture, I’ve seen series where we can find 2 / 1.622311470 operating effectively as high as the 17th to 20th power.
1.622311470 may also turn out to be a metrological unit (in feet). 1.622311470 ft = 4/3 of 1 Remen of 1.216733603 feet
The Squared Munck Megalithic Yard (SMMY) 7.396853331 (ft) – used as a constant or probe, this number is often enough surprisingly good at serving analytical and data retrieval functions. This number can also be effective in its reciprocal form, 1 / 7.396853331 = 1.351926225 / 10
Not-Phi 1.618829140. I called it that because it is not Phi (the Golden Ratio 1.618033989) – see what I mean about my unimaginative names for things. I “discovered” this in an expanded model of the Great Pyramid. The natural ratio between apothem and half base length of a perfect pyramid with perimeter/height ratio of 2 Pi is 1.61899318661, which is an invalid number within the system in use.
1.618829140 is what I found in the search for a valid form, and makes a true statement of the apothem / half base ratio using the adapted valid version for the “ideal” apothem length of 194.4 Pi.
Not-Phi not going to outshine “Alternate Phi” by any means, and unlike “Alternate Phi”, Not-Phi performs poorly at higher powers, but sometimes it’s just the right tool to interpret a challenging number. Thus far it seems to gravitate toward the summits of important pyramids, such as the Great Pyramid and the pyramid temples of Tikal, Guatemala. Some surprisingly creative things may have done with this number at Tikal.
Square roots. I may not resort to them that often, but numbers like sqrt 15, sqrt 60, and sqrt 240 can also be very powerful interpretive tools and data retrieval keys, perhaps sqrt 60 especially. Again, I’ve recently found the reciprocal of sqrt 60 working at as high as the 27th power. It’s probably another tool I should use more myself.
1 / x = y. The reciprocal check. It happens quite often that a number that isn’t familiar turns out to be the reciprocal of one that is familiar, all we have to do is divide 1 by the unfamiliar number to convert it to its reciprocal to see what it looks like “backwards” – or “forwards” as the case may be when we are already looking at reciprocals and don’t realize it.
These days I’m getting better at using variations on this theme: 2 / x = y, 3 / x = y, 4 / x = y and so forth.
1.067438159. Similar to Not-Phi in that it gives poor performance at higher powers, 1.067438159 is nonetheless often enough effective as an analytical tool so that it deserves honorable mention at very least. It has a way with turning the unknown into the known.
–Luke Piwalker
Luke Piwalker 