Reply To: 2-1 – Addition – Discussion

[Kyle Pearce]

For both addition and multiplication, the idea of moving quantities around is the commutative property.

Typically, we use the commutative property to help us re-associate quantities with other quantities to make simplification easier.

For example, when people see this expression:

7 + 9 + 3

The order of operations would suggest that 7 and 9 are “associated” and will be simplified through addition first. However, we might use the commutative property to reassociate the 7 with the 3 to make a 10:

7 + 3 + 9 = 10 + 9

10 + 9 = 19

The same is true with negative quantities as well 🙂