calculate

«calculate» in Mova's school dictionary: To work out an amount or answer using numbers, in your… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (calculate, calculates, calculated, calculating); noun calculation; adjective calculated, calculating

meaning for a pupil

1) To work out an amount or answer using numbers, in your head, on paper or with a calculator. tree →

2) To judge or estimate something by thinking carefully. tree →

3) (calculated) Planned on purpose, like "a calculated risk". tree →

4) (calculating) Clever in a cold, selfish way, planning to get what you want. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths it is the main instruction word: "Calculate the area", "Calculate the total". In science it means finding values like speed. In stories "calculating" describes a cunning villain. Phrases: "calculate the total", "calculate how many", "a calculated risk".

examples

• Calculate 24 × 3. tree →
• We calculated the area of the playground. tree →
• Calculate how much change you get from £5. tree →
• Scientists calculate how fast the planet moves. tree →
• She calculated that she could finish before dark. tree →
• It was a calculated risk to go for the goal. tree →
• The calculating fox tricked the crow. tree →

note

In a maths question "calculate" means show working and give an exact number. Not the same as "estimate" (a rough answer). Spelled with one l: calculate, calculator.

In the corpora

• So before you calculate, ask: which numbers are about the thing the question asks, and which are just feelings?
• In 1974 Stephen Hawking calculated that black holes should slowly leak tiny amounts of energy and, over unimaginably long times, evaporate.
• Chess has no hidden information: both players can see the whole board; a chess computer wins by calculating many moves ahead.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «calculate» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.