So I’m watching a video from 2012, featuring a young-looking Graham Hancock

Which, before they got all wooshie about the Mayan 21 December 2012 end of the world thing, had some interesting info. In particular, the observation concerning the difference between two sides of the great pyramid, and its height, which goes like this:

two side of pyramid = 440 x 2 cubits. In metres, that’s 460.7669 m.
height of pyramid = 280 cubits = 146.6077 m

Difference = 460.7669 – 146.6077  = 314.1592 which you may recognise as 100 times pi.

This only works if we set the length of a cubit as pi metres/6, that is one sixth of the circumference of a circle with diameter 1 metre. If we had to use the other (and in my view, later dynastic) value of .525 m for the cubit, the answer comes out at 315.

The magic disappears a bit if we write the sums like this:

(440 \times 2 - 280) = 880 - 280 = 600
convert to metres: 600 \times \pi / 6 = 100 \times \pi

The above video also contains the claim (best as I could make out) that twice the base is equal to 100 \phi ^2, in metres, but that doesn’t work.

What does work is half the base plus the height, as follows:

base is 440 royal cubits, height is 280 royal cubits, so

(440 / 2 ) + 280 = 220 + 280 = 500
Convert to metres (x π/6) = 261.8 m

QED.