Properties of Real
Numbers
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The COMMUTATIVE Property
•of addition
•a + b = b + a
•of multiplication
•a b = b a
The ASSOCIATIVE Property
•of addition
•a + (b + c) = (a + b) + c
•of multiplication
•a (b c) = (a b) c
The DISTRIBUTIVE Property
•of multiplication over
addition
•a(b + c) = a b + a c
The IDENTITY Property
•of addition
•a + 0 = 0 + a = a
•of multiplication
•a 1 = 1 a = a
The INVERSE Property
•of addition
•a + (-a) = 0
•of multiplication
•a 1/a = 1