| Noun | 1. | inverse - something inverted in sequence or character or effect; "when the direct approach failed he tried the inverse" Synonyms: opposite |
| Adj. | 1. | inverse - reversed (turned backward) in order or nature or effect Synonyms: reverse |
| 2. | inverse - opposite in nature or effect or relation to another quantity ; "a term is in inverse proportion to another term if it increases (or decreases) as the other decreases (or increases)" Antonyms: direct - similar in nature or effect or relation to another quantity; "a term is in direct proportion to another term if it increases (or decreases) as the other increases (or decreases)" |
| (mathematics) | inverse - Given a function, f : D -> C, a function g : C -> D is called a left inverse for f if for all d in D, g (f d) = d and a right inverse if, for all c in C, f (g c) = c and an inverse if both conditions hold. Only an injection has a left inverse, only a surjection has a right inverse and only a bijection has inverses. The inverse of f is often written as f with a -1 superscript. |