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# 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/#m1)

2) To judge or estimate something by thinking carefully. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/#m2)

3) (calculated) Planned on purpose, like "a calculated risk". [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/#m3)

4) (calculating) Clever in a cold, selfish way, planning to get what you want. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/#m4)

### 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 →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/#x1)
- We calculated the area of the playground. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/#x2)
- Calculate how much change you get from £5. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/#x3)
- Scientists calculate how fast the planet moves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/#x4)
- She calculated that she could finish before dark. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/#x5)
- It was a calculated risk to go for the goal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/#x6)
- The calculating fox tricked the crow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/#x7)

### 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?](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/language/46-which-number-counts-hyperbole-and-real-numbers-in-maths/7/)
- [In 1974 Stephen Hawking calculated that black holes should slowly leak tiny amounts of energy and, over unimaginably long times, evaporate.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/space/25-black-holes/17/)
- [Chess has no hidden information: both players can see the whole board; a chess computer wins by calculating many moves ahead.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/173-the-game-is-rigged-because-i-lost/22/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «calculate» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/calculate/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.