The phrase "a single miscalculation" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when referring to one error or mistake that has significant consequences.
Example: "The project failed due to a single miscalculation in the budget estimates."
Alternatives: "one error" or "a lone mistake".
The champagne flowed when profit was strong, he said, but heads rolled over a single miscalculation.
"A historic opportunity for resolving the prolonged nuclear crisis is at the mercy of a single miscalculation.
And to what extent should we trust such a vehicle when the consequences of a single miscalculation or technical malfunction could be tragic?
Fourth, with a single miscalculation, Obama has managed to unite economic and social conservatives in outrage against government activism and energize religious conservatives in a way Mitt Romney could never manage.
The return of 1970s-era gas lines to the five boroughs of New York City was not the result of a single miscalculation, but a combination of missed opportunities, ignored warnings and a lack of decisiveness by city and state officials that produced a deepening crisis and a sense of frustration.
Similarly, Guy Ritchie weaves a nail-biting game of chess into the climax of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, an on-the-nose metaphor for the action taking place, although Moriarty does offer some exposition for any audience members still confused by the moves: "May I remind you this is blitz chess – a single miscalculation will cost you the game".
But the administration's preparations have been cursory.Many of Mr Obama's mistakes stem from a single strategic miscalculation: he is trying to do too much too quickly.
As President Gerald R. Ford's chief of staff, Mr. Cheney had a front-row seat on two of the most memorable debates of the past 25 years, debates whose outcomes turned on a single misstatement or miscalculation.
MTA directors said they were more than willing to pay top dollar for the right person to run an agency where a single mistake or miscalculation can cost tens of millions of dollars.
If the insistence upon a single, polarising question was a miscalculation, then the timescale of the vote amounted to carelessness.
"We have these two hostile armies standing eyeball to eyeball, and it takes the miscalculation of a single individual to start something".
