diff --git a/engine-proto/ConstructionViewer.jl b/engine-proto/ConstructionViewer.jl
index c9b0b7a..b9c8ffb 100644
--- a/engine-proto/ConstructionViewer.jl
+++ b/engine-proto/ConstructionViewer.jl
@@ -207,8 +207,8 @@ end
 
 # ~~~ sandbox setup ~~~
 
-elements = begin
-  const a = sqrt(BigFloat(3)/2)
+elements = let
+  a = sqrt(BigFloat(3)/2)
   sqrt(0.5) * BigFloat[
     1    1   -1   -1    0
     1   -1    1   -1    0
diff --git a/engine-proto/gram-test/overlapping-pyramids.jl b/engine-proto/gram-test/overlapping-pyramids.jl
index c530296..cf4b88d 100644
--- a/engine-proto/gram-test/overlapping-pyramids.jl
+++ b/engine-proto/gram-test/overlapping-pyramids.jl
@@ -36,8 +36,8 @@ gram[1, 6] = gram[6, 1]
 # in this initial guess, the mutual tangency condition is satisfied for spheres
 # 1 through 5
 Random.seed!(50793)
-guess = begin
-  const a = sqrt(BigFloat(3)/2)
+guess = let
+  a = sqrt(BigFloat(3)/2)
   hcat(
     sqrt(1/BigFloat(2)) * BigFloat[
       1    1   -1   -1    0