An algorithm for computing the original units of measure of medieval architecture

Architecture is the expression of the artistic and technological culture of the age in which it is designed and realized. Stylistic features, building techniques and functional aspects change in time. Units of measure are also the expression of an age. In particular, during the Middle Ages these units changed from region to region. The considerable variability in time and space of units of measure led us to draw them a posteriori, by means of an algorithm and some statistical mathematical analyses. For the first time this issue shows the analytical procedure of this algorithm. The algorithm is part of a wider-ranging method in which data coming from historical, historico-architectural, archeological and building-technical analyses, is considered in a repetitive and interdisciplinary way. The method has been tested on some medieval monuments of Southern Italy. The tests have revealed criteria and fields of application for the method itself, of which the aim is to provide information that helps to establish dates for monuments or parts of them.