Centesimus Quartus Decimus: November 16, 2008: Calculus
calculus, calculi m.
Definition: pebble, stone; draughtsman, counting stone, reckoning, voting stone;
calculum reducere: to take back a move
calculos subducere: compute
ad calculos vocare: subject to a reckoning
Sententia: Utor calculo intra calculum ad molem metiendum.
I use calculus for the sake of measuring the mass inside a pebble (i.e. the volume of the pebble).
Yes, "calculus" is a Latin word! Perhaps I am a bit easily amused, but I think that it is very cool that "calculus" can mean 'pebble' (though the 'reckoning' definition makes more sense for the math course). Indeed, the word "calculus" was used for basically any mathematics or calculuation before the actual invention of calculus by Lebiniz and Newton (2). A rather interesting use of a "calculus" was as an odometer for Roman taxis--for more information on this use, see (1). This word appears twice in Ovid's Metamorphoses, though not in any of the parts read for the AP syllabus.
[1] http://ubu.math.helsinki.fi/PublicFiles/CD/Calculus-2006/Various/MeaningOfCalculus.htm
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calculus [when all else fails, there is always Wikipedia to check! Sorry, all ye past and future English teachers, who are probably cringing because I am citing Wikipedia...]
NB: Bold and underline == macron