Arithmetic Properties

Associative Property

In addition and multiplication, terms may be arbitrarily associated with each other through the use of parentheses:

a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c                    a(bc) = (ab)c

Commutative Property

In addition and multiplication, terms may be arbitrarily interchanged, or commutated:

a + b = b + a                    ab = ba          
 

Distributive Property

In equations where added terms are also multiplied by another term(s), the term(s) may be arbitrarily distributed to the added terms:

a(b + c) = ab + ac

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