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Compute vs Calculate - What's the difference?

compute | calculate |

Calculate is a synonym of compute.



As verbs the difference between compute and calculate

is that compute is to reckon or calculate while calculate is to determine the value of something or the solution to something by a mathematical process.

compute

English

Verb

(comput)
  • To reckon or calculate.
  • Can anyone here compute the square root of 10201?
  • (informal) To make sense.
  • Does that compute , or do I need to explain further?

    calculate

    English

    Verb

    (calculat)
  • (mathematics) To determine the value of something or the solution to something by a mathematical process.
  • (mathematics) To determine values or solutions by a mathematical process; reckon.
  • (intransitive, US, dialect) To plan; to expect; to think.
  • *, chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated , might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.}}
  • To ascertain or predict by mathematical or astrological computations the time, circumstances, or other conditions of; to forecast or compute the character or consequences of.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
  • A cunning man did calculate my birth.
  • To adjust for purpose; to adapt by forethought or calculation; to fit or prepare by the adaptation of means to an end.
  • * Archbishop Tillotson
  • [Religion] is calculated for our benefit.

    Synonyms

    * (determine value of or solution to) compute, reckon (old), work out * (determine values or solutions) compute, reckon (old)

    Derived terms

    * calculating