Question

How do you find the reciprocal of 3?

Answer 1

The reciprocal of a number is another word for its multiplicative inverse, or the number which gives 1 when multiplied by the original number.

To find the reciprocal of any number, simply take 1 and divide it by that number. So, the reciprocal of `3` is:

`1 div 3 = color(red)(1/3)`

We can check that this is the multiplicative inverse of `color(limegreen)3` by multiplying those two numbers together and seeing if we get 1:

`color(limegreen)3 * color(red)(1/3) = cancel3 * 1/cancel3 = 1`

Hope this helps!

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As a side note for future problems, you may want to remember that the number `0` does not have a reciprocal. This is because there isn't any number you can multiply by zero to get `1`. Try it for yourself `-` you always get zero!

Answer 2

The reciprocal of `3/1` is `1/3`

Explanation:

The reciprocal of a number is the same as its multiplicative inverse.

(The multiplying opposite)

It is the number 'turned upside down'.

The product of a number and its reciprocal is always `1`

`a/b xx b/a =1`

`5/2 xx 2/5 = 1`

So in this case, we can write `3` as: `3/1`

The reciprocal is `1/3`

`3/1 xx 1/3 = 1`

Note that `0` does not have a reciprocal because you cannot turn `0/1` upside down and then divide by `0`