Use the commutative law of multiplication to write an equivalent expression
x+3y
3y+x
The commutative law of multiplication states that changing the order of the factors does not change the product. However, in the given expression x+3y, we have addition, not multiplication.
To use the commutative law of multiplication, we need to rewrite the expression as a multiplication problem. We can do this by considering that addition can also be represented as multiplication with a coefficient of 1.
So, x+3y can be rewritten as 1x + 3y.
Using the commutative law of multiplication, we can change the order of the terms to get an equivalent expression. Therefore, we can rewrite 1x + 3y as 3y + 1x.
Therefore, an equivalent expression using the commutative law of multiplication is 3y + 1x.
Note that in most cases, when dealing with addition and subtraction, the commutative law only applies to numbers, not variables.