n.an advancedform of mathematics that deals with calculations, laws and relationships involving tensors. Tensors are quantities that are made up of several components that represent such things as the stress or strain placed on a body by external forces; for example, the strain in a piece of wire that is being stretched. (Tensor derives from a Latinword meaning to stretch.) Calculus is an advancedform of mathematics dealing with things in a state of change, such as the rate of growth of an individual, the acceleration and deceleration of a bullet and the area of curved figures, as opposed to the steady speed of a moving object or the measurement of a regular shaped object, such as a square.