Reciprocal of a Fraction
To get the reciprocal of a fraction, just turn it upside down.
Like this:
Fractions
A Fraction (such as 34) has two numbers:NumeratorDenominator
We call the top number the Numerator, it is the number of parts we have.
We call the bottom number the Denominator, it is the number of parts the whole is divided into.
Reciprocal of a Fraction
To get the reciprocal of a fraction, just turn it upside down.
In other words swap over the Numerator and Denominator.
Examples:
| Fraction | Reciprocal |
|---|---|
| 38 | 8 3 |
| 56 | 6 5 |
| 197 | 7 19 |
| 12 | 21 = 2 |
That last example was interesting. The reciprocal of 12 is 2
Likewise the reciprocal of 13 is 3 and so on.
Multiplying a Fraction by its Reciprocal
When we multiply a fraction by its reciprocal we get 1:
Examples:
56 × 65 = 1
13 × 3 = 1
Reciprocal of a Mixed Fraction
To find the reciprocal of a Mixed Fraction, we first convert it to an Improper Fraction, then turn that upside down.
Example: What is the reciprocal of 213 (two and one-third)?
1. Convert it to an improper fraction: 213 = 6 3 + 1 3 = 7 3
2. Turn it upside down: 37
The Answer is: 37