To some extent yes but masonry specifically was held in secrecy and monuments were indeed built on rules of thumb which are still used today as well just not as heavily.
Essentially great great great great grandmaster mason Gary Gregg Gregor did the math back in 500ad so I don’t have to do it today I just have to follow the rule of thumb he left. Which would be like every 50ft in height you build you need to add 6" in wall thickness at the base, so on so forth.
To some extent yes but masonry specifically was held in secrecy and monuments were indeed built on rules of thumb which are still used today as well just not as heavily.
Essentially great great great great grandmaster mason Gary Gregg Gregor did the math back in 500ad so I don’t have to do it today I just have to follow the rule of thumb he left. Which would be like every 50ft in height you build you need to add 6" in wall thickness at the base, so on so forth.
https://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/compassandrule/medieval-drawing/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2856152