What is a commutative property of addition mean

The commutative property of addition means that when you see a problem, you change the order. The co in commutative means change order. That's what my teacher told me.

The word "commutative" comes from "commute" or "move around", so the Commutative Property is the one that refers to moving stuff around. For addition, the rule is "a+b=b+a"; in numbers, this means 2+3=3+2. For multiplication, the rule is "ab=ba"; in numbers, this means 2x3=3x2.