[Maths-Education] Why is reciprocal called 'reciprocal'?
Birgit Pepin
maths-education@nottingham.ac.uk
Tue, 10 Dec 2002 09:49:09 +0000
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Dear John,
the French word for reciprocal is 'l'inverse' , and the German is
'Kehrwert'. The French is easily understandable. The German word comes from
'umkehren' which means to put upside down (or to reverse).
Hope you find this useful.
Best wishes,
Birgit
At 15:20 08/12/02 +0000, you wrote:
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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)
> 1 Straylands Grove
> York YO31 1EB
>
>Tel: (+44) 01904-424242 office, 01904-424200 (home and direct line)
>Fax: 01904-424381
>e: qed@enterprise.net, john.bibby@counton.org
>
> Count On(*) is the government's "Maths for All" programme, managed by
>MatheMagic at the University of York. MatheMagic(**)is a charitable
>organisation working with partners around the world promoting basic skills
>(including ICT) and Maths for All.
>
> * winner of BETT Award for best educational website of the year (2001
>AND 2002)
> ** MatheMagic's "Computer Bus" has just won the 2002 BT Lifelong
>Learning Award, in partnership with York Libraries.
>
> Visit www.counton.org and www.mathemagic.org
>
>
>
>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>An international directory of mathematics educators is available on the
>web at www.nottingham.ac.uk/csme/directory/main.html
>______________________________________________
>Maths-Education mailing list
>Maths-Education@nottingham.ac.uk
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Dr. Birgit Pepin
Westminster Institute of Education
Oxford Brookes University
Harcourt Hill Campus
Oxford OX2 9AT
UK
Tel.: ++44 (0)1865 488518
Fax: ++44 (0)1865 488484
e-mail: bpepin@brookes.ac.uk
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Dear John,<br><br>
the French word for reciprocal is 'l'inverse' , and the German is
'Kehrwert'. The French is easily understandable. The German word comes
from 'umkehren' which means to put upside down (or to reverse). <br>
Hope you find this useful.<br><br>
Best wishes,<br>
Birgit<br><br>
<br>
At 15:20 08/12/02 +0000, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>***********************************************************************************************************<br>
This message has been generated through the Mathematics Education email
discussion list.<br>
Hitting the REPLY key sends a message to all list members.<br>
***********************************************************************************************************<br>
NB: Please reply to qed@enterprise.net even if you respond to list, as
some<br>
of my list-messages go astray.<br><br>
Q from an 11-year-old: Why are reciprocals so-called?<br><br>
(I know that they have the 'mutual' property of reciprocality - but then
do<br>
so many things.)<br><br>
Can anyone tell me what they are called in French/German/other
languages?<br>
Sometimes that can help with questions such as this.<br><br>
Thank you and Best regards<br><br>
JOHN BIBBY (Director, Count On/MatheMagic)<br>
1 Straylands Grove<br>
York YO31 1EB<br><br>
Tel: (+44) 01904-424242 office, 01904-424200 (home and direct line)<br>
Fax: 01904-424381<br>
e: qed@enterprise.net, john.bibby@counton.org<br><br>
Count On(*) is the government's "Maths for All"
programme, managed by<br>
MatheMagic at the University of York.
MatheMagic(**)is a charitable<br>
organisation working with partners around the world promoting basic
skills<br>
(including ICT) and Maths for All.<br><br>
* winner of BETT Award for best educational
website of the year (2001<br>
AND 2002)<br>
** MatheMagic's "Computer Bus" has just won
the 2002 BT Lifelong<br>
Learning Award, in partnership with York Libraries.<br><br>
Visit
<a href="http://www.counton.org/" eudora="autourl">www.counton.org</a>
and <a href="http://www.mathemagic.org/" eudora="autourl">www.mathemagic.org</a><br><br>
<br><br>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++<br>
An international directory of mathematics educators is available on the web at <a href="http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/csme/directory/main.html" eudora="autourl">www.nottingham.ac.uk/csme/directory/main.html</a><br>
______________________________________________<br>
Maths-Education mailing list<br>
Maths-Education@nottingham.ac.uk<br>
<a href="http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/maths-education" eudora="autourl">http://lists.nottingham.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/maths-education</a></blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
<font face="Tahoma">Dr. Birgit Pepin<br>
Westminster Institute of Education<br>
Oxford Brookes University<br>
Harcourt Hill Campus<br>
Oxford OX2 9AT<br>
UK<br><br>
Tel.: ++44 (0)1865 488518<br>
Fax: ++44 (0)1865 488484<br>
e-mail: bpepin@brookes.ac.uk</font></html>
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