[Maths-Education] Why is reciprocal called 'reciprocal'?

John Bibby maths-education@nottingham.ac.uk
Sun, 8 Dec 2002 15:20:41 -0000


NB: Please reply to qed@enterprise.net even if you respond to list, as some
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Q from an 11-year-old: Why are reciprocals so-called?

(I know that they have the 'mutual' property of reciprocality - but then do
so many things.)

Can anyone tell me what they are called in French/German/other languages?
Sometimes that can help with questions such as this.

             Thank you and Best regards

              JOHN BIBBY  (Director, Count On/MatheMagic)
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