This paper will discuss the changing uses and descriptions of the aerial balance between the 16th and 19th centuries with a focus on the Ottoman empire. The aerial or triangular balance was used in various surveying practices in the Middle East. Its making was explained in detail in al-Karaji’s eleventh century book on extracting hidden waters. Following, this same instrument becomes one of the few illustrated tools in chapters on surveying in Arabic texts on geometry. Al-Amili’s 17th-century book, "The Essentials of Arithmetic" as well as its copies and commentaries described and depicted this tool in their sections on surveying. Yet, it has been difficult to establish how this scientific knowledge was translated into practice to guide social affairs or vice versa. Who were the practitioners? How did they use this tool? What were the intersections between theoretical writings and practical applications? How did the role of books in informing action change throughout time? This paper will look at four different commentaries on al-Amili’s book written between the 17th and 19th centuries along with Ottoman accounts on architecture and surveying to shed light on the link between theory and practice in scientific and architectural practices. Hence, it will explore the mutual transmission of knowledge between writing and making.