commutative law

views updated May 18 2018

commutative law Rule of combination in mathematics; it requires that an operation on two terms is independent of the order of the terms. Addition and multiplication of numbers is commutative, since a + b = b + a and ab = ba. Vector cross-multiplication does not obey the commutative law.

commutative law

views updated Jun 11 2018

commutative law See commutative operation.