[Maths-Education] Why is reciprocal called 'reciprocal'?
Dylan Wiliam
maths-education@nottingham.ac.uk
Mon, 9 Dec 2002 19:32:13 +0000
In Welsh, cilydd (pronounced kill-ith, but with the th prounounced as=20
in this, rather than thorn), which means something like companion,=20
or, in a literal translation of another meaning, reflexively=20
effectual.
Dylan
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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
>
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Dylan Wiliam
Department of Education and Professional Studies
King's College London
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150 Stamford Street
London SE1 9NN
Tel: +44 (0)20 7 848 3153
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http://www.dylanwiliam.net
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/education/KAL/ASSESSMENT.html