(of a calculation )计算 giving the same result whatever the order in which the quantities are shown 交换的(排列次序不影响结果) Word Originmid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘relating to transactions between people’): from French commutatif, -ive or medieval Latin commutativus, from commutat- ‘exchanged’, from the verb commutare from com- ‘altogether’ + mutare ‘to change’.