The phrase "a mere calculation" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to downplay the significance of a calculation, suggesting that it is simple or unimportant.
Example: "What seemed like a complex problem turned out to be a mere calculation that anyone could solve."
Alternatives: "just a calculation" or "simply a calculation".
Democrats see his centrist swing as mere calculation, a prelude to a tough re-election fight.
This is not, however, a decision determined by mere calculation.
Or maybe the "weakest part of human beings" is that we have separated our emotional capabilities from the work that we do, and we therefore judge our worth on criteria better suited to machines, on inputs and outputs, productivity and growth, on mere calculation, rather than on intrinsic human values.
Here, arithmetic is probably understood as the number theory found in Euclid, Elements vii-ix, and not mere calculation of numbers, which, of course, is used in geometry.
She called herself "an Analyst (& Metaphysician)," and was the first to grasp that Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine (the godfather of today's computers) could go beyond mere calculation to influence how science works and how new discoveries are made.
In the final analysis, logic deals with reasoning and relatively little of the reasoning we do is mathematical, while almost all of the mathematical reasoning that nonmathematicians do is mere calculation.
Only left-brained Silicon Valley techies believe that a mere cost-benefit calculation settles this issue.
I was brought into this world but three months ago—I am a mere child by your human calculations!
I was brought into this world but three months ago — I am a mere child by your human calculations!
On average, analysts expect technology earnings to rise a staggering 28.3% this year, up from a mere 0.3% last year, according to calculations by I/B/E/S.
