Explain why the process of dividing by a rational number is the same as multiplying by its reciprocal.

Think of when you are given an equation in which a number is being divided by a fraction. Any time you do so, you are taught to flip the fraction (the denominator) and then multiply, instead of divide, by the numerator:
 
5/(2/3) --> 5 x (3/2) --> 15/2 

A rational number, by definition, is not a fraction. However, you can easily turn any whole number into a fraction by placing it over 1. So, if you were to divide a number by a fraction whose denominator is 1, you would then flip the fraction (the denominator) and multiply it by the numerator. By definition, you would be multiplying by the reciprocal of the previous fraction, because the reciprocal of any whole number is that number over 1:

5/4 = 5/(4/1)
5/(4/1) --> 5 x (1/4)

In this case, 1/4 is the reciprocal of 4. 

PLATO: The scene with the gravediggers illustrates the play’s broader theme of mortality. In the first part of the scene, two gravediggers discuss the burial of people who have taken their own lives and how the Christian system is flawed in disallowing that. Hamlet and Horatio then look at the remains of the many dead bodies and reflect on the certainty of death for all people. In death, we are all the same. For example, a woman may go to great ends to beautify herself in life, but her remains after death may look like any ordinary person’s remains. Hamlet and Horatio also discuss how a person's greatness ceases to matter when he or she dies. Hamlet refers to Alexander the Great being buried and becoming one with the sand.

The skull and the graveyard directly contrast with the life Hamlet led in the castle. In Elsinore, Hamlet’s mother and Claudius tried to make him forget about his father's death. In the graveyard, he has the freedom to contemplate death.

Explanation: