Associative property of multiplication

Basic multiplication is a pairwise operation. To multiply more than two numbers, you must combine them in pairs successively until all the numbers have been used. For example, to multiply <math>X = 3 \times 4 \times 5</math> you first pick two consecutive numbers, say 3 and 4, and multiply them: <math>X = 12 \times 5</math>. Now there are just two numbers remaining, which you can multiply to get the final answer: <math>X = 60</math>.