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What is a reciprocal of a number?

Answer 1

Avery Alexander

The reciprocal of a number, #a#, is a number, #b# such that #a xx b = 1#

For Real numbers, other than 0, the reciprocal of #a# is #1/a#.

(The number #0# does not have a reciprocal because #0xxb=1# has no solution. #0xxn=0# for all real and complex #n#.)

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Answer 2

Eva Abramson

The reciprocal of a number is simply one divided by that number. For example, the reciprocal of 3 is ( \frac{1}{3} ), and the reciprocal of ( \frac{4}{5} ) is ( \frac{5}{4} ). In general, if ( x ) is a non-zero number, then its reciprocal is ( \frac{1}{x} ).

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.