Home Education A Mixture of complexity and confusion – Finding the reciprocal

# A Mixture of complexity and confusion – Finding the reciprocal

9 views

In mathematics, some concepts have a mixture of difficult and easy topics. Maths is known for its complications and formulas. But there are some topics which students can learn easily. Being consistent and practicing the particular method, again and again, can make the person perfect in that subject. In some mathematics chapters, there is also a concept where a person has to find the reciprocal of a number. The sum for this question is that the person has to find a multiplicative inverse of the number. This method is used to find a particular number that can get multiplied by the question and is equal to 1. For example, if the number is ⅗. The person has to find a number which can be multiplied by ⅗ so that they can get 1. Now, if we multiply ⅗ with 5/3 we can get 1. So, we can say that the reciprocal of ⅗ is 5/3.

1. The multiplicative inverse is the reciprocal of different numbers such as real numbers, complex numbers, fractions, and mixed fractions. Finding the reciprocated number of real numbers is much easier than comparing two complex numbers. For all the natural numbers which are from 1- infinity. Reciprocal for the same will be 1/n (n= any natural number).

Example – reciprocal of:

2= ½

5=⅕

8= ⅛. Multiplying these numbers with each other will give the number 1 as the answer.

2×1/2 = 1

5×1/5= 1

8×1/8= 1.

As the property of multiplicative inverse says: x. x-¹ = 1.

1. Talking about finding multiplicative inverse in the form of fractions, it can be done very easily. If you create a fraction number and multiply it with the reciprocal number, we can get the product as 1. Suppose a fraction is r/n and we have to find a fraction by which we can multiply r/n to get the answer as 1. If we multiply r/n with n/r then the value will be 1. Talking in numbers, if there is a fraction as ⅞ then if we multiply it with 8/7 it gives us 1. So 8/7 is the multiplicative inverse of ⅞.
2. Finding multiplicative inverse in mixed fractions might be complex for someone but solving the mixed fraction forces has to be converted into a proper fraction. Reciprocal cannot be found in the fraction is improper. Let’s take a number and say: 3⅔ it has to be converted into 11/3 and after that, we can find its reciprocal which would be 3/11.
3. It is difficult to find the inverse in complex numbers than the other numbers. Students find it very hard and confusing to solve a problem if complex numbers are there. There are many sites that are providing knowledge about the multiplicative inverse. The person can visit Cuemath to get the solution of the problems and to learn most simply. This website explains very concept in the simplest way so that students can understand quickly.

By the points mentioned above, we can say that multiplicative inverse is had difficulty levels. If a student got stuck somewhere you should do regular practice so that he can get used to it and get the main methods to solve the problem easily. Only consistency can make you perfect in mathematics not only in the multiplicative inverse concept but in other concepts too. Some people get confused between multiplicative inverse and additive inverse. These two are different concepts related to each other. The additive inverse is the opposite of the number while the multiplicative inverse is a reciprocal of the number. Let’s take a fraction, say,

3/7 so the additive inverse of the number will be -3/7 and the multiplicative inverse will be 7/3. The multiplicative inverse is an easy topic so students should get their grip on it. And learn to use it as it can be a base for other concepts.