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The reciprocal function: y = 1/x.For every x except 0, y represents its multiplicative inverse. The graph forms a rectangular hyperbola.. In mathematics, a multiplicative inverse or reciprocal for a number x, denoted by 1/x or x −1, is a number which when multiplied by x yields the multiplicative identity, 1.
The harmonic mean of a set of positive integers is the number of numbers times the reciprocal of the sum of their reciprocals. The optic equation requires the sum of the reciprocals of two positive integers a and b to equal the reciprocal of a third positive integer c. All solutions are given by a = mn + m 2, b = mn + n 2, c = mn.
In probability theory and statistics, an inverse distribution is the distribution of the reciprocal of a random variable. Inverse distributions arise in particular in the Bayesian context of prior distributions and posterior distributions for scale parameters.
Any involution is a bijection.. The identity map is a trivial example of an involution. Examples of nontrivial involutions include negation (x ↦ −x), reciprocation (x ↦ 1/x), and complex conjugation (z ↦ z) in arithmetic; reflection, half-turn rotation, and circle inversion in geometry; complementation in set theory; and reciprocal ciphers such as the ROT13 transformation and the ...
Repeated application of the recurrence relation for the lower incomplete gamma function leads to the power series expansion: [2] (,) = = (+) (+) = = (+ +). Given the rapid growth in absolute value of Γ(z + k) when k → ∞, and the fact that the reciprocal of Γ(z) is an entire function, the coefficients in the rightmost sum are well-defined, and locally the sum converges uniformly for all ...
An important application is Newton–Raphson division, which can be used to quickly find the reciprocal of a number a, using only multiplication and subtraction, that is to say the number x such that 1 / x = a. We can rephrase that as finding the zero of f(x) = 1 / x − a. We have f ′ (x) = − 1 / x 2 . Newton's ...
In calculus, the reciprocal rule gives the derivative of the reciprocal of a function f in terms of the derivative of f. The reciprocal rule can be used to show that the power rule holds for negative exponents if it has already been established for positive exponents.
These rules are given in many books, both on elementary and advanced calculus, in pure and applied mathematics. Those in this article (in addition to the above references) can be found in: Mathematical Handbook of Formulas and Tables (3rd edition), S. Lipschutz, M.R. Spiegel, J. Liu, Schaum's Outline Series, 2009, ISBN 978-0-07-154855-7.