Explain why division can be rewritten as multiplication by the reciprocal of the divisor. Use at least one example to illustrate your idea. Be sure to be clear and concise in your explanation.
Division can be rewritten as multiplication by the reciprocal of the divisor because dividing is the opposite of multiplying, so diving a number by another number is like multiplying a number by the opposite of another number, or multiplying by the reciprocal. For example, say we have 1 pizza, and we are dividing it into 5 pieces. Each piece is 1/5 of the pizza or our "answer" is 1/5. The reciprocal of 5/1 is 1/5 and 1 piece of the pizza is 1/5. So if we have a division problem 1/5 is is also the multiplication problem 1*1/5.
**just needed to put this answer on the internet... (don't mind me)
When we divide a number by another number, it is equivalent to multiplying the first number by the reciprocal of the second number. The reciprocal of a number is the number that, when multiplied by the original number, equals 1.
Let's take the example of dividing 12 by 3. We can rewrite this division as a multiplication problem by multiplying 12 by the reciprocal of 3. The reciprocal of 3 is 1/3 because 3 * 1/3 = 1.
So, 12 divided by 3 is equal to 12 multiplied by 1/3. Mathematically, we can write it as 12/3 = 12 * 1/3.
Therefore, division can be rewritten as multiplication by the reciprocal of the divisor, simplifying the process and providing an alternative way to tackle division problems.