Each of the Big Four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) has an inverse — an operation that undoes it. Addition and subtraction are inverse operations because addition undoes subtraction, and vice versa. For example, here are two inverse equations:

1 + 2 = 3

3 – 2 = 1

In the first equation, you start with 1 and add 2 to it, which gives you 3. In the second equation, you have 3 and take away 2 from it, which brings you back to 1. The main idea here is that you’re given a starting number — in this case, 1 — and when you add a number and then subtract the same number, you end up again with the starting number. This shows you that subtraction undoes addition.

Similarly, addition undoes subtraction — that is, if you subtract a number and then add the same number, you end up where you started. For example,

184 – 10 = 174

174 + 10 = 184

This time, in the first equation, you start with 184 and take away 10 from it, which gives you 174. In the second equation, you have 174 and add 10 to it, which brings you back to 184. In this case, starting with the number 184, when you subtract a number and then add the same number, the addition undoes the subtraction and you end up back at 184.

In the same way, multiplication and division are inverse operations. For example,

4 5 = 20

20 5 = 4

This time, you start with the number 4 and multiply it by 5 to get 20. And then you divide 20 by 5 to return to where you started at 4. So division undoes multiplication. Similarly,

30 10 = 3

3 10 = 30

Here, you start with 30, divide by 10, and multiply by 10 to end up back at 30. This shows you that multiplication undoes division.