computed

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of compute.

   The accountant computed the firm's losses before the meeting.

   Once the system had computed the results, it printed a report.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs here. It is the simple past on its own (the accountant computed the losses), and the participle after have or in the passive (the losses were computed overnight). It belongs only to the verb, because the uncountable noun compute, meaning processing power, has no such form. The informal robotic use meaning 'make sense' is usually negative, and it can move into the past as well: it just didn't compute.

2. 2
   adjective

   Calculated or arrived at through computation rather than supplied directly.

   The computed average matched the figure on the spreadsheet.

   Engineers compared the computed value with the reading from the gauge.

   Similarcalculated, derived

3. 3
   adjective

   Derived from other values rather than obtained by direct measurement.

   The computed density came from mass and volume, not a direct gauge.

   Scientists relied on a computed figure because no instrument could capture it.

   Similarcalculated, derived, inferred

   Oppositemeasured, observed

   Note

   A figure's pedigree is the point here. Calling a value computed tells the reader that no instrument read it directly: it was worked out from other quantities, as density is from mass and volume. The plain "calculated" sense carries no such contrast, since a computed average is simply the result of arithmetic. When the opposition with measured matters, this is the reading in play.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3