calculus

«calculus» in Mova's school dictionary: A branch of advanced maths that studies how things change… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

noun (calculus — uncountable; calculi — for stones)

meaning for a pupil

1) A branch of advanced maths that studies how things change and how to add up endless tiny pieces, used for speed, curves, areas and motion. tree →

2) (medicine) A hard stone that forms in the body, such as a kidney stone; also hard tartar on teeth (dental calculus). tree →

sense in the lessons

In school maths, calculus is for older students (high school and university), but children may hear of it as the maths of rockets, planets and engineering. In history of science, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz invented calculus in the 1600s. At the dentist, «calculus» means hard plaque on teeth.

examples

• My big sister is learning calculus at college. tree →
• Calculus helps engineers design bridges and rockets. tree →
• Newton and Leibniz both worked out calculus. tree →
• Calculus can tell you how fast a ball is moving at each moment. tree →
• The dentist cleaned the calculus off my teeth. tree →
• You need algebra before you can learn calculus. tree →

note

Uncountable for the maths: «calculus», no «a». Plural «calculi» only for stones. It comes from the Latin word for a small pebble, because counting was once done with stones. Related: calculate, calculator.

Trees and pragmatics

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