Associativity

In algebra, associativity is a property of binary operations. If Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle \star} is a binary operation then the associative property is the condition that

Failed to parse (SVG (MathML can be enabled via browser plugin): Invalid response ("Math extension cannot connect to Restbase.") from server "https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/":): {\displaystyle (x \star y) \star z = x \star (y \star z) \,}

for all x, y and z.

Examples of associative operations are addition and multiplication of integers, rational numbers, real and complex numbers. In this context associativity is often referred to as the associative law. Function composition is associative.