By contrast , in computer science , the addition and multiplication of floating point numbers is not associative , as rounding errors are introduced when dissimilar - sized values are joined together .
In mathematics , addition and multiplication of real numbers is associative .
In computer science , the addition and multiplication of floating point numbers is not associative , as rounding errors are introduced when dissimilar - sized values are joined together .
In mathematics , addition and multiplication of real numbers is associative .