## What Does Compute Mean in Math

What does compute mean in math? Find out the answer to this question and many more questions on computing with this blog article.

## What does compute mean?

For decades compute meant “processing.” It would eventually become an acronym–computer–which in turn confuses the meaning. While computers are used for processing, computes can be found in many places in mathematics.

## What Does Compute Mean in Math

Compute is the reversal of the multiplication sign. One key difference to remember is that if a string of digits is written as 8, then you can multiply each number by itself and get a new digit sum. If the first number was 3, then you would multiply 3 times 3 and get 12.

## Where does compute come from?

“Computation” is derived from the Latin computare, which means “to make or reduce to numbers.” This word originally descends from the Latin computus, meaning “reckoning.” Later, computare became “calculate.”

## Conclusion

Compute is a prefix in which the first letter is C. It means to calculate something mathematically and is part of many words such as computer, compute, and computable.