Which property allows the terms to be rearranged for addition or multiplication without changing the result?

Which property allows the terms to be rearranged for addition or multiplication without changing the result?

• A. Associative Property
• B. Identity Property
• C. Commutative Property
• D. Distributive Property

Answer: (C)

Commutative property means you can swap the order of the numbers in addition or multiplication without changing the result. For addition, a + b = b + a; for multiplication, ab = ba. This allows rearranging terms when adding or multiplying and still getting the same total. For example, 3 + 8 = 8 + 3 and 4 × 9 = 9 × 4. Other properties describe different ideas: associative is about grouping (a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c), distributive shows how multiplication distributes over addition (a(b + c) = ab + ac), and identity concerns adding zero or multiplying by one. The situation described relies on the commutative property.

Commutative property means you can swap the order of the numbers in addition or multiplication without changing the result. For addition, a + b = b + a; for multiplication, ab = ba. This allows rearranging terms when adding or multiplying and still getting the same total. For example, 3 + 8 = 8 + 3 and 4 × 9 = 9 × 4. Other properties describe different ideas: associative is about grouping (a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c), distributive shows how multiplication distributes over addition (a(b + c) = ab + ac), and identity concerns adding zero or multiplying by one. The situation described relies on the commutative property.