Commutative law is used while adding or multiplying. With this law the numbers or letters switch positions and the answer remains the same.
Example: a + b = b + a
6 × 3 = 3 × 6
Associative law is also used while adding, or multiplying. Its the same procedure as the commutative law, at the end you will remain with the same answer.
Example: (GF + DA) + WE = GF + (DA + WE)
25 × (12 × 3) = (25× 12) × 3
(6 + 3) + 4 = 9 + 4 = 13
(5 × 3) × 8 = 15 × 8 = 120
Distributive law is used while multiplying mostly. It’s the best one to use, but you have to pay keen attention the way you distribute the numbers and letters. This is because there are positive (+) and negative (-) numbers. These two signs will determine if the answer is correct or incorrect.
Example: a × (b + c) = a × b + a × c
3 × (5 + 9) = 3 × 5 + 3 × 9
7 × (7 – 5) = 7 × 7 – 7 × 5
It does not matter the way you work out the equation as long as the answers are the same as well as the sign. You will get the same answer when you multiply a number by a group of numbers added together, or do each multiply separately then add them.
But the commutative and distributive laws cannot be divided while the associative law cannot be subtracted.
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