An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A principle holding for the operations of addition and multiplication (in some number domains) that asserts that the consequence of the given operation is not affected by the order in which the terms are considered. Thus x + y = y + x; x . y = y . x.

See also: → commutative; → law.
The first use of the word commutative in this sense is ascribed to
the French mathematician François Joseph Servois (1768-1847).