- of commutation; involving exchange or replacement
- Math. of or pertaining to an operation in which the order of the elements does not affect the result, as, in addition, 3 + 2 = 2 + 3 and, in multiplication, 2 × 3 = 3 × 2
commutative
com·mu·ta·tiveWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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commutative
adjective
- Relating to, involving, or characterized by substitution, interchange, or exchange.
- Independent of order. Used of a logical or mathematical operation that combines objects or sets of objects two at a time. If a × b = b × a , the operation indicated by × is commutative.
Related Forms:
- com·mu′ta·tiv′i·ty
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"Commutative." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/commutative.
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Commutative. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/commutative
Of or relating to binary operations for which changing the order of the inputs does not change the result of the operation. For example, addition is commutative, since a + b = b + a for any two numbers a and b, while subtraction is not commutative, since a − b ≠ a − b unless both a and b are zero.
See also associative
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"Commutative." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/commutative.
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Commutative. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/commutative
Adjective
(not comparable)
- (mathematics, of a binary operation) Such that the order in which the operands are taken does not affect their image under the operation.
- Addition on the real numbers is commutative because for any real numbers , it is true that .
- (algebra, of an algebraic structure) Having a commutative operation.
- (mathematics, of a diagram of morphisms) Such that any two sequences of morphisms with the same initial and final positions compose to the same morphism.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
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MLA Style
"Commutative." YourDictionary. LoveToKnow. www.yourdictionary.com/commutative.
APA Style
Commutative. (n.d.). In YourDictionary. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/commutative
