Try it out.
3 + 9 = 9 + 3
That works.
3 x 9 = 9 x 3
That works.
3 - 9 = 9 - 3
That doesn't work.
3/9 = 9/3
That doesn't work.
The numbers came first. The commutative law was only devised because of the relationship of the numbers. It isn't that the commutative property doesn't work for other operations, it's that the other operations aren't commutative.
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The commutative property of addition and/or multiplication states that the result will be the same no matter the order. a + b = b + a a x b = b x a Think of commuters going one way and then the other.
The COMMUTATIVE property states that the order of the arguments of an operation does not matter. In symbolic terms, for elements a and b and for the operation ~, a ~ b = b ~ a The ASSOCIATIVE property states that the order in which the operation is carried out does not matter. Symbolically, for elements a, b and c, (a ~ b) ~ c = a ~ (b ~ c) and so, without ambiguity, either can be written as a ~ b ~ c. The DISTRIBUTIVE property is a property of two operations, for example, of multiplication over addition. It is not the property of a single operation. For operations ~ and # and elements a, b and c, symbolically, this means that a ~ (b # c) = a ~ b # a ~ c. The existence of an IDENTITY is a property of the set over which the operation ~ is defined; not a property of operation itself. Symbolically, if the identity exists, it is a unique element, denoted by i, such that a ~ i = a = i ~ a for all a in the set. For example, you can define addition on all positive integers which will have the commutative and associative properties but the identity (zero) and additive inverses (negative numbers) are undefined as far as the set is concerned. I have deliberately chosen ~ and # to represent the operations rather than addition or multiplication because there are circumstances in which these properties do not apply to multiplication (for example for matrices), and there are many other operations that they can apply to.
No. They are not at all the same thing. A multiplication array is something that you usually use when you're learning multiplication. For example: there are 5 rows of 7. Its a picture that shows something like that. On the other hand, a commutative property is 2 numbers that you can multiply very easily in your head. The numbers are between 0 and 9. If they are double digits, they're not commutative property.
The property that states m + n = n + m is known as the commutative property of addition. This property states that the order in which two numbers are added does not affect the sum. In other words, you can add the numbers in any order and still get the same result. This property holds true for all real numbers.
No, division is not commutative, because a/b does not necessarily equal b/a. A simple proof by counter-example: Assuming a = 10 and b = 5, we test the property of commutativity with: 10/5 = 2 5/10 = 0.5. This is an example of division failing to be commutative. In general, for a/b to equal b/a, a must equal b. For all other pairs (a,b) the property fails.