How we build calculators
Calculator Campus combines an AI-driven research and drafting pipeline with deterministic verification, named sources, and a human editor of record. This page describes how a calculator gets from a search query to a live page.
Editor of record
Every calculator on this site is published under a named editor who is responsible for the final page. The editor reviews the formula, the sources, the worked examples, and the language before the page goes live, and is the person to contact if something is wrong.
When we add a domain expert as a reviewer for a particular calculator (a math educator for a grade calculator, a sawyer for a lumber calculator, a clinician for a health calculator), we credit them by name on the page itself.
Sources we trust
We prefer primary, citable sources: government and academic publications, recognised professional bodies, manufacturer specifications, and well-known reference works in the field. The references at the bottom of each calculator page link directly to the document we used.
We avoid pages whose only authority is search rank. If a fact only appears in other AI-generated content, we either find a primary source or we leave the claim out.
How AI is used
We use large-language-model tooling to accelerate research, drafting, and quality review. The model is a research assistant and a drafting partner — it is not the editor. Every published page is checked against named sources, validated by a deterministic test suite (math correctness, internal-link health, accessibility, on-page schema), and reviewed before deployment.
We do not generate FAQs out of thin air. Questions on each page are drawn from real People-Also-Ask data and search-suggestion signals; questions that cannot be sourced from real users are removed.
What you can do if a calculator is wrong
If a calculator returns a number you believe is incorrect, or a source you believe is misleading, please tell us. We will check the formula, re-read the source, and either publish a correction or update the page within a few business days.
We log corrections on the page that changed and treat the corrections trail as part of how we earn trust over time.
What this page is not
Methodology is not legal, medical, financial, or other professional advice. Calculators are tools for thinking through a problem; the responsibility for a real-world decision sits with the person making the decision, working with a qualified professional where one is needed.