Properties of math

What is the commutative property?

The commutative property is a property of multiplication and addition that states that a * b is the same as b * a, and a + b is the same as b + a.

What is the associative property?

It is a property of multiplication and addition where you can group parts of the equation and the result will remain the same ((a + b) + c = (c + b) + a) and ((a* b) c = (c * b) * a)

What is the identity property?

It is the property of a specific number that will leave a number unchanged in the different operations. For multiplication and division, the identity is 1, and it is not reversable for division. For addition and subtraction, the identity is 0, and it is not reversable for subtraction.

What is the distributive property?

It is the property that allows multiplication distributed with addition or subtraction (not division): a(b + c) = ab + ac

What is the inverse property?

It is the property that turns a number back to the baseline. The inverse property for multiplication is the reciprocal, such as a * 1/a = 1 (if a is not equal to 0) and the inverse property for addition is the negative version of that number: a + (-a) = 0.

What is the zero property?

It is the property that defines what happens when a certain operation is used with 0. For multiplication, any number multiplied by 0 is 0. For addition, any number added to 0 remains that number. 0 divided by any non-zero number is 0, and any number divided by 0 is undefined.