TITLE: Why is it called commutative property?
QUESTION [6 upvotes]: I can see why distributive is called distributive (distribute whatever you are multiplying to everything within the brackets).
Associative because when the same associative operator appear in a row, you can change around the numbers.
But why is the commutative property called commutative?

REPLY [2 votes]: Seems pretty reasonable since commute means to move around or change places, approximately.   One of the most basic ways of moving elements around is to switch their order.
I guess another word could have been used.  Of course "abelian" is used for groups, after Niels Henrik Abel.