calculus

English

Etymology

• Borrowed from Latin calculus (“a pebble or stone used as reckoning counters in abacus”), diminutive of calx (“limestone”) + -ulus.
• Mathematical topic is from differential calculus.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkæl.kjʊ.ləs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkæl.kjə.ləs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cal‧cu‧lus

Noun

calculus (countable and uncountable, plural calculi or calculuses)

1. (dated, countable) Calculation; computation.

   Synonyms: ciphering, reckoning; see also Thesaurus:calculation

2. (countable, mathematics) Any formal system in which symbolic expressions are manipulated according to fixed rules.

   lambda calculus

   predicate calculus

3. (uncountable, often definite, the calculus) Differential calculus and integral calculus considered as a single subject.

   Synonym: infinitesimal calculus

   Near-synonyms: analysis, mathematical analysis

5. (countable, medicine) A stony concretion that forms in a bodily organ.

   Synonym: stone

   Hyponyms: kidney stone, nephrolith, gallstone, cholelith, sialolith, urolith

   • 2015, Jaime Samour, Avian Medicine, page 297:

     Commonly indicated for treatment of sour crop (Fig. 11-11, A), an ingluviotomy is done to retrieve crop calculi, ingluvioliths, or foreign bodies (which are not accessible per os) or to retrieve proventricular or ventricular foreign bodies (using micromagnets [glued in place within plastic tubes], lavage, or endoscopy) and for the placement of an ingluviotomy or proventriculotomy tube or the collection of crop wall biopsies.

6. (uncountable, dentistry) Deposits of calcium phosphate salts on teeth.

   Synonyms: dental calculus, tartar

7. (countable) A decision-making method, especially one appropriate for a specialised realm.
   • 2008 December 16, “Cameron calls for bankers’ ‘day of reckoning’”, in Financial Times:

     The Tory leader refused to state how many financiers he thought should end up in jail, saying: “There is not some simple calculus."

Derived terms

• absolute differential calculus
• all students take calculus
• calculus of moving surfaces
• calculus of sums and differences
• calculus of variations
• dental calculus
• differential calculus
• felicific calculus
• finite-difference calculus
• fractional calculus
• hedonic calculus
• hedonistic calculus
• implicational propositional calculus
• infinitesimal calculus
• integral calculus
• jackstone calculus
• join calculus
• Kirby calculus
• lambda calculus
• logical calculus
• modular calculus
• multivariable calculus
• noncalculus
• operational calculus
• pi-calculus
• precalculus
• predicate calculus
• propositional calculus
• renal calculus
• Ricci calculus
• Schubert calculus
• sentential calculus
• sequent calculus
• stochastic calculus
• tensor calculus
• tuple calculus
• umbral calculus
• utility calculus
• variational calculus
• vector calculus

 

Related terms

• calcify
• calcium
• calculate

Translations

formal mathematical system

• Afrikaans: analise, calculus
• Arabic: حِسْبَان m (ḥisbān)
• Armenian: համարողություն (hy) (hamaroġutʻyun)
• Catalan: càlcul (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 微積分學 / 微积分学 (mei⁴ zik¹ fan¹ hok⁶)

  Mandarin: 微積分學 / 微积分学 (zh) (wēijīfēnxué)

• Czech: počet (cs) m
• Finnish: laskenta (fi)
• French: calcul (fr) m
• Gallurese: calculu
• Georgian: კალკულუსი (ḳalḳulusi), აღრიცხვა (aɣricxva)
• German: Kalkül (de) m
• Greek: λογισμός (el) m (logismós)
• Hindi: कलन (hi) (kalan)
• Hungarian: kalkulus (hu)
• Indonesian: kalkulus (id)
• Irish: calcalas m
• Italian: calcolo (it)
• Japanese: 計算 (ja) (keisan)
• Korean: 미적분 (ko) (mijeokbun), 미적분학 (mijeokbunhak)
• Maori: tuanaki
• Norwegian: beregning m or f
• Polish: rachunek (pl) m
• Portuguese: cálculo (pt)
• Romanian: calcul (ro) n
• Russian: исчисле́ние (ru) n (isčislénije)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: calculu, càrculu

  Logudorese: calculu, càrculu

• Sassarese: càlcuru
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ра̀чӯн m

  Roman: ràčūn (sh) m

• Slovak: počet
• Spanish: cálculo (es) m
• Swedish: kalkyl (sv) c
• Tagalog: tayahan
• Welsh: calcwlws m
• Yiddish: קאַלקולוס m (kalkulus)

differential calculus and integral calculus considered as a single subject

• Afrikaans: analise, calculus
• Arabic: حِسْبَان m (ḥisbān), التَّفَاضُل وَ التَّكَامُل m (at-tafāḍul wa t-takāmul), حِسَاب التَّفَاضُل وَ التَّكَامُل m (ḥisāb at-tafāḍul wa t-takāmul)
• Bengali: কলনবিদ্যা (bn) (kolnobidda)
• Catalan: càlcul (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 微積分 / 微积分 (zh) (wēijīfēn)

• Czech: počet (cs)
• Farefare: kɛkrɛ-biire
• Finnish: differentiaalilaskenta (fi)
• French: calcul (fr) m
• Gallurese: calculu
• Georgian: დიფერენციალური აღრიცხვა (diperencialuri aɣricxva)
• German: Kalkül (de) m
• Greek: λογισμός (el) m (logismós)
• Gujarati: કલન (kalan)
• Hebrew: חדו"א (ẖédva)
• Hindi: कलन (hi) (kalan)
• Icelandic: deilda- og heildareikningur m, diffur- og tegurreikningur m, örsmæðareikningur m, reiknivísi f
• Ido: kalkulo (io)
• Indonesian: kalkulus (id)
• Italian: calcolo (it) m
• Japanese: 微積分 (ja) (bisekibun)
• Maori: tuanaki
• Marathi: कलन (kalan)
• Norwegian: matematikk (no) m
• Persian: حساب دیفرانسیل و انتگرال (hesâbe diferânsyal o entegrâl)
• Polish: rachunek różniczkowy i całkowy m
• Portuguese: cálculo (pt) m
• Romanian: calcul diferențial (ro) n
• Russian: математический анализ (ru) (matematičeskij analiz)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: calculu, càrculu

  Logudorese: calculu, càrculu

• Sassarese: càlcuru
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: infinitezimalni račun m

• Slovak: matematická analýza
• Spanish: cálculo diferencial m
• Swedish: analys (sv) c
• Tagalog: tayahan
• Telugu: కలన గణితం (kalana gaṇitaṁ)
• Thai: แคลคูลัส (th)
• Turkish: kalkülüs
• Welsh: calcwlws m
• Yiddish: קאַלקולוס m (kalkulus)

stony concretion in an organ

• Bulgarian: камък (bg) m (kamǎk)
• Catalan: càlcul (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 結石 / 结石 (zh) (jiéshí)

• Finnish: kivi (fi)
• French: calcul (fr) m, lithiase (fr) f
• German: Konkrement (de) n
• Greek: λιθίαση (el) f (lithíasi)
• Gujarati: અશ્મરી (aśmarī)
• Hindi: अश्मरी (hi) (aśmarī), पथरी (hi) (pathrī)
• Icelandic: steinn (is) m
• Indonesian: kalkulus (id), batu (id)
• Japanese: 結石 (ja) (kesseki)
• Latin: lapillus m, calculus m
• Macedonian: ка́мен (mk) m (kámen)
• Portuguese: cálculo (pt) m
• Romanian: piatră (ro) f, calcul (ro) m
• Russian: ка́мень (ru) m (kámenʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: каме́нац m

  Roman: kaménac (sh) m

• Spanish: cálculo (es) m
• Thai: นิ่ว (th) (nîu)
• Turkish: taş (tr)

deposits on teeth — see dental calculus

See also

• algebra
• analysis
• concretion

References

• “calculus”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Latin

Etymology

From calx, calcis (“limestone, game counter”) +‎ -ulus (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkal.ku.lus/, [ˈkäɫ̪kʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkal.ku.lus/, [ˈkälkulus]

Noun

calculus m (genitive calculī); second declension

1. diminutive of calx
2. pebble, stone
3. reckoning, calculating, calculation
4. a piece in the latrunculi game

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	calculus	calculī
genitive	calculī	calculōrum
dative	calculō	calculīs
accusative	calculum	calculōs
ablative	calculō	calculīs
vocative	calcule	calculī

Derived terms

• calculārius
• calculensis
• calculō
• calculōsus

Descendants

• → Catalan: càlcul
• → English: calculus
• → French: calcul
  • → German: Kalkül
    • → Czech: kalkul
  • → Romanian: calcul
  • → Swedish: kalkyl
• → Gallurese: calculu
• → Georgian: კალკულუსი (ḳalḳulusi)
• → Hungarian: kalkulus
• → Irish: calcalas
• → Italian: calcolo
• → Portuguese: cálculo
• → Sardinian: calculu, càrculu
• → Sassarese: càlcuru
• → Spanish: cálculo
• → Welsh: calcwlws
• → Yiddish: קאַלקולוס (kalkulus)

References

• “calculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “calculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• calculus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• calculus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to go through accounts, make a valuation of a thing: ad calculos vocare aliquid (Amic. 16. 58)