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Glite Dictionary
commutative

commutative

1 7.9
An operation where changing the order of numbers does not change the result
  • adjective
  • /kəˈmjuːtətɪv/
  • Specialized
translation icon : conmutativo
  • The commutative property of addition was emphasized by the teacher.
  • commutative property
  • commutative property of addition

So these same numbers appear in commutative fields, non commutative fields and so on.

Examples

  • Modern school mathematics of the latter 1950s," she continued, "truly pinpointed the commutative property of addition and multiplication, which has value on any grade level, be it primary grades or higher education mathematics.

    Academic text (1998)

  • They learn numerical properties, such as commutative, associative, and distributive, that explain methods of calculation.

    Academic text (2015)

  • And of course, because it's commutative, this should also work the other way around.

  • So in this case, union was a commutative binary operation, so definitely commutative.

  • We focused on interconnected knowledge about number (e.g., cardinality, inverse relation between addition and subtraction, commutative property).

    Academic text (2015)

  • The teacher explained that addition is commutative, so 4 plus 5 equals 5 plus 4.

  • Students learned the commutative property of multiplication during their math class.

  • The concept of commutative operations helps simplify many mathematical equations.

Synonyms

abelian
vscommutative
  • Specialized
9.9

A mathematical group where the order of combining elements does not change the result

applies to the operation itself rather than to the overall structure

Compounds

commutative group
  • Specialized
8.4

A set with a rule to combine items where the order does not matter

Surface Forms

commutative positive

Morphology

commutative = commute (opaque) = commute + ive

Although formed from 'commute' + '-ive', the adjective's mathematical sense relies on a specialized sense of 'commute' ('to exchange/change order') that is not familiar to average learners who know 'commute' mainly as travelling to work.

Etymology

Commutative comes from Latin parts com- 'together' and mutare 'to change'. So a commutative operation is one where you can 'change' the order of the numbers (swap them) without changing the result.