calculation

UK/ˌkælkjuˈleɪʃn̩/US/ˌkælkjəˈleɪʃn̩/

nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,829 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: calculations

A calculation is working something out with numbers, or a cold self-serving plan. A quick calculation.

The second sense is an accusation, since it means the warmth was a strategy. The Latin behind it is a pebble, since counting was done with stones.

Definitions of calculation

1nouncalculationWorking something out with numbers, or a cold self-serving plan.C1
“A calculation on the back of an envelope killed the whole scheme.”

calculation is a working out.

Where it comes from

Latin calculatio comes from calculus, a pebble used for counting.

Latin
calculatio
Middle English
calculation
English, today
calculation

From Middle English calculation, borrowed from Latin calculatio. Morphologically calculate + ion.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

calculation in the wild

The debate raged in the 1920s and 1930s and that specific period of the debate has come to be known by economic historians as the socialist calculation debate.
Economic calculation problem
A calculation is a deliberate mathematical process that transforms a plurality of inputs into a singular or plurality of outputs, known also as a result or results.
Calculation
A Fermi estimate (or order-of-magnitude estimate, order estimation) is an estimate of an extreme scientific calculation.
Fermi problem
A back-of-the-envelope calculation is a rough calculation, typically jotted down on any available scrap of paper such as an envelope.
Back-of-the-envelope calculation
People with an unusual fastness with reliably correct performance of mental calculations of sufficient relevant complexity are prodigies or savants.
Mental calculation

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the calculatio family

calculation miscalculation

calculation — used about once every 5,283 pages · #9,829 · point at the bar for the others

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