Word.ws English Dictionary

doing the math

doing the math is the present participle and gerund of do the math.

Meaning of do the math

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

Questions about doing the math

What is doing the math the present participle and gerund of?
Doing the math is the present participle and gerund of do the math.

Words near doing the math in the dictionary

  1. doing the honor
  2. doing the honors
  3. doing the honour
  4. doing the impossible
  5. doing the job
  6. doing the math
  7. doing the nasties
  8. doing the nasty
  9. doing the needful
  10. doing the power of good
  11. doing the right thing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: doing the math (page history and authors); 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.

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