What happens when you change the grouping of numbers in an addition operation?

When you change the grouping of numbers in an addition operation, it has no effect on the sum due to the associative property of addition. This property states that the way numbers are grouped when they are added does not change the total. For example, if you are adding the numbers 2, 3, and 5, it does not matter whether you add (2 + 3) + 5 or 2 + (3 + 5); in both cases, the sum is 10. This principle ensures that addition is consistent regardless of how the numbers are organized, emphasizing the fundamental nature of addition as a mathematical operation.