Final answer:
The contents of pointer variables in C++ may be changed with operations that perform addition and subtraction. This is because pointer arithmetic allows these operations to move the pointer forwards or backwards relative to its type size.
Step-by-step explanation:
The contents of pointer variables in C++ may be changed with mathematical statements that perform addition and subtraction. Options such as multiplication and division are not generally legal operations on pointer values in C++. When manipulating pointers, you can add or subtract integers to move the pointer forwards or backwards by a number of elements, or you can subtract one pointer from another to find the distance between them if they point into the same array.
In more detail, incrementing a pointer (adding to it) effectively advances the pointer to point to the next element of its associated data type, given the pointer's current type size. Decrementing a pointer (subtracting from it) moves the pointer back by the type size. This is due to the pointer arithmetic rules defined by the C++ language.