Question

What is multiplicative inverse? (please provide example)

a) A number that, when added to the original number, results in 1.
b) A number that, when subtracted from the original number, results in 1.
c) A number that, when multiplied by the original number, results in 0.
d) A number that, when multiplied by the original number, results in 1.

Answer 1

The multiplicative inverse of a number is that which when multiplied by the original number results in 1. For example, the inverse of 5 is 0.2 because 5 multiplied by 0.2 equals 1.

Step-by-step explanation:

The multiplicative inverse of a number is a number that, when multiplied by the original number, results in 1. The correct answer to the question is option (d): A number that, when multiplied by the original number, results in 1. For instance, the multiplicative inverse of 5 is ⅒ or 0.2, because when you multiply 5 by 0.2, the result is 1. It is important to remember that multiplying two numbers with the same sign (+/-) will result in a positive product while multiplying numbers with opposite signs results in a negative product. To 'undo' multiplication, we simply multiply by the multiplicative inverse, just like to 'undo' a square, we take the square root.