commutative
commutative
English
Adj
Ad
Definition
Such that the order in which the operands are taken does not affect their image under the operation.
Etymology
From French commuter (“to substitute or switch”) + -ative (“tending to”). See commute.
Example Sentences
- "Addition on the real numbers is commutative because for any real numbers s,t, it is true that s#43;t#61;t#43;s."
- "Addition and multiplication are commutative operations but subtraction and division are not."
- "The associativity of OR and AND is not at all obvious. It is tempting to assume that because OR and AND are commutative that they must be associative also. This is not the case, however, and some commutative Boolean operators are not associative. Examples include NAND and NOR."
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