You have a calculator whose multiplication button is broken. The only operations that work are addition (x+y), subtraction (x-y), and reciprocation (1/x).

Can you use this calculator to multiply two numbers?

I don't think division is operable.  David said the only operations that work are addition, subtraction and reciprocation.

If division worked, we could easily do:

((1/x)/y)^-1 = (1/(xy))^-1 = xy

That's a little too easy and trivial, so that's why I don't think division is usable.

Edited on January 21, 2005, 1:20 pm

Posted by nikki on 2005-01-21 12:37:59