| Say we have one pizza that didn't get sliced. | ||
| If we wanted to, we could write it as a fraction. | ||
| A very BORING fraction, | ||
| but still a fraction. | ||
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| If we had 2 of these unsliced pizzas could we add them together? | ||
| Sure! | ||
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| So 5 of these pizzas that weren't sliced would be: | ||
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| So is this supposed to be a big deal or something? | ||
| Well, not that big. But it does have some use here and there. | ||
| Here is a way we can use it now. | ||
| Say we have a 5. | ||
| What could we multiply it by to get 1? | ||
| That is: | ||
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| Here's the answer: | ||
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| If you're into fancy math words you'll love this: | ||
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| Multiplicative Inverse just means the number | ||
| that you multiply something by to get 1. | ||
| Example: | ||
| What is the multiplicative Inverse of 12? | ||
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| Since: | ||
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| So if we have a fraction we can just flip it over | ||
| and THAT is the MULTIPLICATIVE INVERSE. | ||
| And if we have a whole number, not a fraction, | ||
| we just write it OVER 1 and MAKE it a fraction. | ||
| Example: | ||
| What is the multiplicative inverse of : | ||
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| Flip it over and you get : | ||
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| And: | ||
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|
copyright 2005 Bruce Kirkpatrick |
