associative (asoshiativ)

[ J. A. H. Murray , 9th Ann. Add. to Philol. Soc. 2. In math . , applied to an operation which gives the same result whether it first unites two quantities A and B, and then unites the result to a third quantity C, or whether it first unites B and C, and then unites the result to A, the order of the quantities being preserved. Thus, addition and multiplication are said to be a ociative, on account of the general formulas, (a + b ) + c = a + ( b + c ) (axb) x c = a x (bx c). In the same sense, mathematicians often use the expre ions a ociative formula, a ociative principle. - A ociative algebra, a system of algebra in which multiplication is a ociative.