associative

/ə'souʃjətiv/

Thân thiện

Associative learning helps us connect new information with what we already know.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to or resulting from association or connection: Describes something that involves linking ideas, memories, or elements together.
   • Pertaining to a mathematical operation where the grouping of elements does not affect the result: In mathematics, an operation is associative if changing the grouping of the operands does not change the outcome.

Usage

• General Use: Used to describe mental processes, learning, or systems where connections between items are fundamental.
• Mathematics & Logic: Used to describe a specific property of binary operations (e.g., addition, multiplication).

Examples

• General / Psychology:
  • The mind often makes associative links between smells and memories.
  • Associative learning is a key concept in behavioral psychology.
• Mathematics:
  • Addition is an associative operation because (a + b) + c always equals a + (b + c).
  • The associative property holds for matrix multiplication.

Advanced Usage

• "associative thinking": A thought process that connects different ideas, often used in creative or brainstorming contexts.
  • The exercise was designed to encourage associative thinking.
• "associative memory": A type of memory retrieval where one item leads to the recall of another connected item.
  • The scent of pine triggered an associative memory of childhood winters.

Variants and Related Words

• Associate (verb): To connect or link in thought.
• Association (noun): A connection or relationship between things.
• Associatively (adverb): In an associative manner.

Synonyms

• Connective: Serving to link things together.
• Linking: Making a connection between different things.

Antonyms

• Dissociative: Tending to disconnect or separate.
• Non-associative: Not involving association; in mathematics, describing an operation where the grouping affect the result.

Related Terms & Phrases

• Associative property (law): The mathematical rule stating that the way numbers are grouped in an operation does not change the result.
  • Students must understand the associative property to simplify algebraic expressions correctly.
• Associative array: In computer programming, an array indexed by keys (strings or symbols) rather than numerical indices.
  • The data was stored in an associative array for efficient retrieval.

Học thuật

Adjective

1. characterized by or causing or resulting from the process of bringing ideas or events together in memory or imagination
   • associative learning

Từ đồng nghĩa

• associatory