Question

Lance wants to find the total length of 3 boards.He uses the expression 3 1/2+( 2+4 1/2 how can lance rewrite the expression using both the associative and commutive properties of addition

Answer 1

A right parenthesis ) is missing from this problem statement. I'm assuming that you meant

3 1/2+( 2+4 1/2).

There are at least two ways in which you could do this problem. One would be to simply drop the parentheses entirely:

3 1/2+ 2+4 1/2 It'd make sense to add 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 together FIRST, and then to add 2 to the result.

Or, do the work inside the parentheses FIRST: 3 1/2+( 2+4 1/2).

This simplifies the problem to 3 1/2+( 6 1/2).

You MUST get the same answer either way.

Answer 2

Explanation:

This problem bothers on the use of mathematical properties

Given the expression

3 1/2+( 2+4 1/2)

Applying the associative property rule which says we can add or multiply regardless of how numbers are grouped

Associative property

3 1/2+( 2+4 1/2) can re re-written as

(3 1/2+2) +4 1/2

Commutative property

This rule states that the we can move (commute) figures about and still get same result.

Hence 3 1/2+( 2+4 1/2) can also be expressed as (2+4 1/2+3 1/2)

Or (4 1/2 +2+ 3 1/2)