Which of the following properties is used in the preceding computation?

The commutative property of addition states that changing the order of addends does not change the sum (e.g., a + b = b + a). While this property is important in arithmetic, it does not apply to the computation at hand, which involves multiplication interacting with addition rather than solely rearranging addends.

The associative property of multiplication indicates that the grouping of factors does not affect the product (e.g., (a × b) × c = a × (b × c)). However, this property is not relevant to computations that involve distributing multiplication over addition, which is the focus of the question.

The commutative property of multiplication states that the order of factors does not affect the product (e.g., a × b = b × a). While this property influences multiplication, it does not address the interaction between multiplication and addition, which is essential for the computation being considered.