The word "commutative" comes from "commute" or "move around", so the Commutative Property is the one that refers to moving stuff around. For addition, the rule is "a+b=b+a"; in numbers, this means2 + 3 = 3 + 2. For multiplication, the rule is "ab=ba"; in numbers, this means2×3 = 3×2.Any time they refer to the Commutative Property, they want you to move stuff around; any time a computation depends on moving stuff around, they want you to say that the computation uses the Commutative Property.
- Use the Commutative Property to restate "3×4×x" in at least two ways.
They want you to move stuff around, not simplify. In other words, the answer is not "12x"; the answer is any two of the following:
4 × 3 ×x, 4 ×x× 3, 3 ×x× 4,x× 3 × 4, andx× 4 × 3
- Why is it true that3(4x) = (4x)(3)?
