Word.ws English Dictionary

do the math

do the math verb: to perform a mathematical calculation.

Verb

do the math (third-person singular simple present does the math, present participle doing the math, simple past did the math, past participle done the math)

  1. (US) To perform a mathematical calculation.
    • Before my family left for Rome, I did the math. Over 11 days, with a lunch and a light dinner, each of us could taste approximately 55 dishes.2002 February 17, Amanda Hesser, “Food Diary: Local Hero”, in New York Times, retrieved 18 Dec 2018
  2. (US, idiomatic) To determine the explanation for or precise nature of a situation, such as the motive underlying someone's behavior, based on available facts.
    • Gore has looked into buying cable channel News World International. Despite initial reports, Gore's camp says he and his backers intend to make the channel not a liberal mouthpiece but a "hip" news channel. […] Maybe; maybe not. (Gore has long complained about the undue influence of conservatives...2003 November 16, James Poniewozik, “All The News That Fits Your Reality”, in Time, retrieved 18 Dec 2018
    • “The child has marks all over. I saw them when I took her to the bathroom. Ian, she is hurting this child. Now I don't know for sure what's going on here, and maybe it's none of my business. Nevertheless, even I can do the math. […] You can't let her keep this child for one more day.”2012, Racine Lavelle, Embracing the Wolf, →ISBN, page 117

Forms of do the math

third-person singular presentdoes the math
present participledoing the math
pastdid the math
past participledone the math
alternative UKdo the maths

Questions about do the math

What does do the math mean?
Do the math means to perform a mathematical calculation.
What part of speech is do the math?
Do the math is a verb.
What is the past tense of do the math?
The past tense of do the math is did the math.

Words near do the math in the dictionary

  1. do the honours
  2. do the impossible
  3. do the job
  4. do the laundry
  5. do the mahi
  6. do the math
  7. do the most
  8. do the nasties
  9. do the nasty
  10. do the needful
  11. do the power of good

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: do the math (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-do the math.ogg, en-us-do the math.ogg.

Cite this entry: “do the math.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/do_the_math. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.