Prealgebra: Operations
Terms
Associative Property of Addition
-
For any numbers
a
,
b
, and
c
, it is
true that
(a + b) + c = a + (b + c)
.
Associative Property of Multiplication
-
For any numbers
a
,
b
, and
c
, it
is always true that
(a×b)×c = a×(b×c)
.
Commutative Property of Addition
-
For any numbers
a
and
b
, it is true that
a + b = b + a
.
Commutative Property of Multiplication
-
For any numbers
a
and
b
, it is true
that
a×b = b×a
.
Distributive Property of Multiplication
-
For any numbers
a
,
b
, and
c
, it is true
that
a×(b + c) = (a×b) + (a×c)
.
Expression
-
A representation of a number.
5 + 3
and
10 - 2
are both expressions that represent the number
8
.
Identity Property of Addition
-
A number does not change when 0 is added: for any number
a
, it is true that
a + 0 = a
. It is also true that
0 + a = a
.
Identity Property of Multiplication
-
A number does not change when it is multiplied by 1: for any
number
a
, it is true that
a×1 = a
. It is also true that
1×a = a
.
Inverse Operation
-
An operation that "reverses" another operation. Addition and subtraction are
inverses of each other, as are multiplication and division.
Order of Operations
-
The order in which to carry out operations when evaluating an expression--
parenthesis, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction.
Zero Product Property
-
Of multiplication. For any number
a
, it is true that
a×0 = 0
and
0×a = 0
.
