2514: calcium & calculus Oct 31, 2021

The words 'calcium' and 'calculus' are related by the common root of 'calx', or translated from Latin, 'limestone'. This makes a certain amount of sense for calcium, since this is an element and is found physically in limestone and even now is another term for kidney-stones, but the association to mathematics is not as clear. This is because the diminutive form of 'calx' took the suffix '-ulus', resulting in 'calculus' meaning 'pebble', which again doesn't seem to relate to math, but is a reference to the stones used as counters on an abacus. Before differential calculus took the more specific definition used today, 'calculus' could just mean 'to calculate', hence the relation there as well.