[ad. L. computātion-em, n. of action f. computāre. Cf. F. computation (16th c. in Littré).]
1. The action or process of computing, reckoning, or counting; a method or system of reckoning; arithmetical or mathematical calculation.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. xxii. 4. A thowsand thre hundyr and twenty yhere … Be ewynlyk computatyown.
1509–10. Act 1 Hen. VIII., c. 13. The yere of oure Lorde God MDix after the computacion of Englonde.
1555. Eden, Decades, 180. (N. H. W. Ind.) By the computation of Venice .iiii. graines make a carette.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. xxiii. 193. Having made the compasse of the worlde, they must finde the want of a whole day in their computation.
1633. T. Stafford, Pac. Hib., ii. (1821), 37. Tuesday the sixt of March, according to the new Computation.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl. (1675), 50. The whole Earth … by the probablest computation, contains above ten thousand millions of Cubick German Leagues.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 39, ¶ 2. The Gregorian Computation … being eleven days before the Julian.
1873. Herschel, Pop. Lect. Sc., ii. 54. it is easy to find, by computation, the angles included between … the two lines of direction.
b. A computed number or amount, a reckoning.
1713. Addison, in Guardian, No. 109. How many additional years are always to be thrown into female computations of this nature.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. xvii. 468. The revenue fell short of the computation.
1816. Keatinge, Trav., I. 183. Others may give their hundred dishes, for … any computation below round numbers is scorned.
† 2. In wider sense: Estimation, reckoning. Obs.
1581. Marbeck, Bk. of Notes, 1099. Least she should abase him in computation, more then ther was cause.
1656. trans. Hobbes’ Elem. Philos. (1839), 5. We must not … think that computation, that is ratiocination, has place only in numbers.
