commutative
Such that the order in which the operands are taken does not affect their image under the operation.
Example
“Addition and multiplication are commutative operations but subtraction and division are not.”
Other meanings
Having a commutative operation.
Such that any two sequences of morphisms with the same initial and final positions compose to the same morphism.
Related words
- cocommutative
- commutatively
- commutativeness
- gyrocommutative
- noncommutative
- supercommutative
- uncommutative
- commutative justice
- commutative group
- commutative property
- commutative ring
- commutativity
Word history
From French "commuter" (to substitute or switch).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “commutative” on Wiktionary, by its contributors, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.