CALCULUS

(Lat. calculus, a small pebble, the Romans having made use of pebbles in casting up accounts.) In modern language, the term calcidus is employed to denote any branch, or any operation of mathematics, which requires or may involve numerical calculation; and therefore may be applied to the whole of the mathematical sciences, excepting pure geometry. Thus that part of algebra which treats of exponents is called the experimental calculus. In like manner the phrases calculus of definite integrals, calculus of functions calculus of variations, Sfc, are used to denote certain branches of the higher mathematics. See Differential Calculus. Integral Calculus, Variations. [s. 194]