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Math Skills Overview Guide

Commutative Property

What does it mean?

Definitions:

For any real numbers a and b,
For addition: $$a + b = b + a$$ For multiplication: $$ab = ba$$ This law simply states that with addition and multiplication of numbers, you can change the order of the numbers in the problem and it will not affect the answer.

Subtraction and division are NOT commutative.

 What does it look like?

A general example to help you recognize patterns and spot the information you're looking for

Addition: $$2 + 6 = 8$$ $$6 +2 = 8$$ Multiplication: $$3 * 5 = 15$$ $$5 * 3 = 15$$

You'll use it...

It’s used every day in banking and other business operations.

  Video: Commutative Law of Addition

  Video: Commutative Law of Multiplication