Question

Communicate mathematical ideas why might you want to use the commutative property to change the order of the integers in the following sum before adding? -80 + (-173)+(-20)

Answer 1

I might want to use the commutative property to change the order of the integers in the following sum before adding the given expression

"-80 + (-173)+(-20)"

As commutative property states that " Changing the order of addends does not change the sum" which means if we add 'a' to 'b' or 'b' to 'a', we will get the same answer.

Therefore, here if we add '-80' to '-173' or '-173' to '-80' , or if we add '-173' to '-20' or '-20' to '-173' , we will get the same answer.

Therefore, we might use commutative property to change the order the of integers in the following sum.