What are inverse operations?
Inverse operations are opposite operations. They are the operation that reverses the effect of another operation.
For example, addition is the inverse operation of subtraction, and multiplication is the inverse operation of division.
Examples
Addition and Subtraction
15 – 6 = 9
As a student, a teacher could figure out what they could add to 6 to get the answer 15.
This changes the sum from subtraction to addition to find the answer.
6 + 9 = 15
Multiplication and Division
12÷ 3 = 4
In Year 2, students begin to recognize that the inverse of division is multiplication and that this sum can also be solved by expressing it as
4 x 3 = 12.
