Reciprocal

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In mathematics, reciprocals are two numbers which multiply together and make 1. They are also called multiplicative inverses of each other. For example:

  1. 3 and 1/3 are reciprocals because 3 x 1/3 = 1
  2. 5/6 and 6/5 are reciprocals because 5/6 x 6/5 = 1
  3. - 0.2 and - 5 are reciprocals because - 0.2 x -5 = 1
  4. 1 and - 1 are their own reciprocals because 1 x 1 = 1 and -1 x -1 = 1
  5. zero does not have a reciprocal because no number times 0 is 1