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The property of numbers that states 1 + 3 is the same as 3 + 1 is known as the commutative property. This property applies to addition (and multiplication) and indicates that the order in which two numbers are added does not affect the sum. Therefore, whether you add 1 to 3 or 3 to 1, the result will always be the same, which in this case is 4.

The other properties listed serve different functions: the associative property involves grouping of numbers during addition or multiplication, stating that how the numbers are grouped does not change their sum (e.g., (1 + 3) + 2 = 1 + (3 + 2)). The distributive property connects addition and multiplication, illustrating how to distribute multiplication over addition (e.g., a(b + c) = ab + ac). Identitative is not a standard property in arithmetic. Therefore, the commutative property is specifically the one that clarifies the interchangeable nature of the operands in addition.