Determine which of the following binary operations are associative and which are commutative:

*on Q defined by for all a,b Q.

Given that * is a binary operation on N defined by for all a,bN.


We know that commutative property is p*q = q*p, where * is a binary operation.


Let’s check the commutativity of given binary operation:




b*a = a*b


The commutative property holds for given binary operation ‘*’ on ‘N’.


We know that associative property is (p*q)*r = p*(q*r)


Let’s check the associativity of given binary operation:




...... (1)




...... (2)


From (1) and (2) we can clearly say that associativity doesn’t hold for the binary operation ‘*’ on ‘N’.


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