Associative Law of Addition

Consider the sum of three summands:

2 + 3 + 5

To calculate this expression, you can first add the numbers 2 and 3 and add the result to the number 5. For convenience, the sum of numbers 2 and 3 can be placed in parentheses, indicating that this sum will be calculated first:

2 + 3 + 5 = (2 + 3) + 5 = 5 + 5 = 10

Or you can add the numbers 3 and 5, then add the result to the number 2

2 + 3 + 5 = 2 + (3 + 5) = 2 + 8 = 10

You can see that in both cases you get the same result.

Thus, between the expressions (2 + 3) + 5 and 2 + (3 + 5) we can put an equal sign, because they are equal to the same value:

(2 + 3) + 5 = 2 + (3 + 5)

10 = 10

Let's write down the associative law of addition using variables:

(a + b) + c = a + (b + c)

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