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For the multiplicative inverse of a real number, divide 1 by the number. For example, the reciprocal of 5 is one fifth (1/5 or 0.2), and the reciprocal of 0.25 is 1 divided by 0.25, or 4. The reciprocal function, the function f(x) that maps x to 1/x, is one of the simplest examples of a function which is its own inverse (an involution).
For example, using single-precision IEEE arithmetic, if x = −2 −149, then x/2 underflows to −0, and dividing 1 by this result produces 1/(x/2) = −∞. The exact result −2 150 is too large to represent as a single-precision number, so an infinity of the same sign is used instead to indicate overflow.
It is represented using the minus sign (). The minus sign is also used to notate negative numbers. [10] Subtraction is not commutative, which means that the order of the numbers can change the final value; is not the same as . In elementary arithmetic, the minuend is always larger than the subtrahend to produce a positive result.
Histogram of total stopping times for the numbers 1 to 10 9. Total stopping time is on the x axis, frequency on the y axis. Iteration time for inputs of 2 to 10 7. Total stopping time of numbers up to 250, 1000, 4000, 20000, 100000, 500000. Consider the following operation on an arbitrary positive integer: If the number is even, divide it by two.
For instance, the numeral for 10,405 uses one time the symbol for 10,000, four times the symbol for 100, and five times the symbol for 1. A similar well-known framework is the Roman numeral system. It has the symbols I, V, X, L, C, D, M as its basic numerals to represent the numbers 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000. [33]
For example, the following algorithm is a direct implementation to compute the function A(x) = (x−1) / (exp(x−1) − 1) which is well-conditioned at 1.0, [nb 12] however it can be shown to be numerically unstable and lose up to half the significant digits carried by the arithmetic when computed near 1.0. [58]
Division is also not, in general, associative, meaning that when dividing multiple times, the order of division can change the result. [7] For example, (24 / 6) / 2 = 2, but 24 / (6 / 2) = 8 (where the use of parentheses indicates that the operations inside parentheses are performed before the operations outside parentheses).
The graph of a function with a horizontal (y = 0), vertical (x = 0), and oblique asymptote (purple line, given by y = 2x) A curve intersecting an asymptote infinitely many times In analytic geometry , an asymptote ( / ˈ æ s ɪ m p t oʊ t / ) of a curve is a line such that the distance between the curve and the line approaches zero as one or ...