Final answer:
The statement "sum += 7;" is indeed equivalent to "sum = sum + 7;" in the programming context, both performing the same arithmetic operation of adding 7 to the value of the variable sum.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement "sum += 7;" is equivalent to the statement "sum = sum + 7;". This equivalence is true in the context of programming, where the "+=" operator is used as a shorthand for incrementing a variable's value. For example, both statements will increase the value of the variable named sum by 7. Thus, in a programming language, if sum originally contains the number 5, executing either "sum += 7;" or "sum = sum + 7;" would result in sum containing the number 12. This operation is based on the principle of addition which, as noted, is commutative for ordinary numbers, meaning the order in which numbers are added does not affect the resultant sum.
The statement "sum += 7;" is equivalent to the statement "sum = sum + 7;". This is a shorthand notation in programming languages for updating the value of a variable. When using the "sum += 7;" statement, the value of "sum" is incremented by 7. It is similar to writing "sum = sum + 7;" where the current value of "sum" is added to 7 and assigned back to the variable "sum".
For example, if the initial value of "sum" is 10, after executing the statement "sum += 7;", the value of "sum" would become 17.