Commutative property
The commutative property says that the order of the numbers when adding or multiplying can be changed without changing the answer. For example, both <math>2+8</math> and <math>8+2</math> are equal to 10, and both <math>5*7</math> and <math>7*5</math> are equal to 35. This can be done with any numbers, or with more than two numbers.
Definition[change]
The definition of commutative property of addition is <math>a+b=b+a</math>. a and b are variables and can be any number.
Some operations like dividing are not commutative. For instance, <math>6\div3</math> is 2, but <math>3\div6</math> is <math>\frac{1}{2}</math>. Subtraction is not commutative either: <math>6-2</math> is 4, but <math>2-6</math> is negative 4.
Higher mathematics[change]
In higher mathematics like calculus, there are other commutative operations besides adding and multiplying. Commutative property must hold for each two elements of an Abelian group.
