Daniel and Revelation were written to be understood at the time of the end, and they interpret each other. The studies in this topic read them that way: the beast and its heads, the eighth king, the image, the mark, Babylon the Great, the king of the north, and the sequence that runs from the pangs of distress to Armageddon.
The method never changes. A symbol means what the Bible says it means, a pattern set in Daniel is expected to repeat in Revelation, and history is consulted only after the text has spoken. Where an inherited interpretation fails that test, the study says so and shows the verses.