What is the product of the multiplicative inverse and the additive inverse of a nonzero number?

Question

choices are:

 

a) -1

 

b) 0

 

c) 1

 

d) 2

Answer 1

The multiplicative inverse is a number is the reciprocal of that number.

 

For example:

 

The reciprocal of 5 is 1/5.  Think of it this way.  The inverse of multiplication is division, so you are dividing by 5.

 

 

 

The additive inverse of a number is when we change the sign of number.

 

For example:  The additive inverse of 5 is -5.  Think of it this way.  The inverse of addition is subtraction, and a negative sign indicates subtraction.

 

If we multiply these two parts, we obtain.

 

(1/5)(-5) = -1

 

Your answer is (a).

 

 

Answer 2

Product means multiplication.

Added inverses create 0.

0 * anything = 0

 

EDIT:

Alright, I see where I went wrong.

I was reading the problem as:

(x * 1/x) * (x - x)