Term (~Remainder/Inverse/Opposite/Remnant...): "Complement"?

Question

Hi,I am trying to recall a word that refers to the remainder, or "all but [some amount]."  For example, "3/10 is the _________ to/of 7/10," or "X is the _________ to/of 100%-X.""Complement" is what comes to mind, but that looks like is used for right angles.  Can anyone provide more information (or tell me where some might be)?Thanksedit: Perhaps this is the wrong [sub]forum?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

complement is probably the closest you're going to get. But each complement is named by what it's a complement of, as far as I know. For example, the Tens Complement of 6 is 4, of 7 is 3, and so on. I don't think that the term is used much in math other than the tens complement for certain methods for doing calculations and the twos complement (and sometimes ones complement) for computer work.

You are talking about some other kind of ones complement, say C₁, defined as the remainder when the original number is subtracted from 1, where the original number is always less than 1.

For each x < 1, C₁(x) = 1 - x.

(It's the same idea if you convert to percentages.)

Try Googling terms like math, complement, remainder, etc.

The (additive) inverse of 37 is -37, and the (multiplicative) inverse (or reciprocal) of 37 is 1/37, so inverse is not the term you want.

CJ

Term (~Remainder/Inverse/Opposite/Remnant...): "Complement"?

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