calculus

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Pathology An abnormal concretion in the body, usually formed of mineral salts and found in the gallbladder, kidney, or urinary bladder, for example.
2. n. Dentistry See tartar.
3. n. Mathematics The branch of mathematics that deals with limits and the differentiation and integration of functions of one or more variables.
4. n. Mathematics A method of analysis or calculation using a special symbolic notation.
5. n. Mathematics The combined mathematics of differential calculus and integral calculus.
6. n. A system or method of calculation: "[a] dazzling grasp of the nation's byzantine budget calculus” ( David M. Alpern).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A small stone; a pebble.
2. n. In pathology, a general term for inorganic concretions of various kinds formed in various parts of the body. Those concretions formed in the gall-bladder are called biliary calculi, or gall-stones; those formed by a morbid deposition from the urine in the kidneys or bladder are called renal, cystic, or urinary calculi; those formed in the substance of the lungs are called pulmonary calculi; and those formed in the salivary glands or their ducts are called salivary calculi. There are also gouty concretions called arthritic calculi, and others called pancreatic calculi, lacrymal calculi, spermatic calculi, etc.
3. n. In mathematics, any highly systematic method of treating a large variety of problems by the use of some peculiar system of algebraic notation. By the calculus, without qualification, is generally understood the differential calculus, invented by Leibnitz (although Newton's method of fiuxions comes virtually to the same thing). In this method quantities are conceived as varying continuously, and when equations exist involving several quantities, these quantities will, in consequence of these equations, vary together, so that there will be equations between their rates of change, the differential or infinitely small increment of a variable being denoted by the letter d written before the symbol denoting the variable. The differential calculus treats of the values of ratios of these differentials, and of the fundamental formulas into which these ratios enter. The integral calculus treats of integration, or the summation of an infinite series of differentials; it is largely an inverted statement of a part of the doctrine of the differential calculus, but it also introduces imaginary quantities and leads up to the theory of functions.

Wiktionary

1. n. dated, countable calculation, computation
2. n. countable, mathematics Any formal system in which symbolic expressions are manipulated according to fixed rules.
3. n. uncountable, mathematics Differential calculus and integral calculus considered as a single subject; analysis.
4. n. countable, medicine A stony concretion that forms in a bodily organ.
5. n. uncountable, dentistry Deposits of calcium phosphate salts on teeth.
6. n. countable A decision-making method, especially one appropriate for a specialised realm.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Med.) Any solid concretion, formed in any part of the body, but most frequent in the organs that act as reservoirs, and in the passages connected with them
2. n. (Math.) A method of computation; any process of reasoning by the use of symbols; any branch of mathematics that may involve calculation.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the branch of mathematics that is concerned with limits and with the differentiation and integration of functions
2. n. a hard lump produced by the concretion of mineral salts; found in hollow organs or ducts of the body
3. n. an incrustation that forms on the teeth and gums