why are square root of 3 and square root of 3 divided by 3 reciprocal?

[luvya]

3 and 1/3 are reciprocal numbers..that I understand..
but why are square root of 3 and square root of 3 divided by 3 reciprocal also?

 

[UCDznutz]

square root of 3 divided by three is just 1 divided by square root of three uhhh normalized (someone help me out with the term here)

1 divided by square root of 3 multiplied by root 3 over root 3 (i.e. 1) produced root 3 over 3. therefore, its the reciprocal of square root of 3

 

[kt]

Look up the definition of reciprocal. It says when you multiply the number and its reciprocal the product is always 1.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: luvya
why are square root of 3 and square root of 3 divided by 3 reciprocal?

Because I said so.

 

[morkinva]

Think of it this way: when you take the square root of a fraction, you root both the numerator and the denominator. 3 can be expressed as the fraction 9/3. If you square root numerator and denominator, you get 3/(root 3) - the reciprocal of this is what you're looking for

 

[luvya]

Ok...I see what you mean now....can't type the math sign...that kinda sucks

 

[Jittles]

It's called rationalizing the denominator.