Distributive Property
A property that can be used to rewrite an expression without parentheses.
The distributive property is a math rule/reference that allows us to simplify expressions by breaking down the multiplication operation. It states that:
a(b + c) = ab + ac
In words, this means that when we have a quantity (a) multiplied by the sum of two other quantities (b and c), we can distribute the multiplication operation across the sum to get the same result as if we multiplied a by b and added it to a multiplied by c.
For example, let’s simplify the expression 3(4 + 2):
3(4 + 2) = (3 * 4) + (3 * 2) = 12 + 6 = 18
Here, we used the distributive property to distribute the 3 across the sum of (4 + 2), which gave us the same result as if we multiplied 3 by 4 and then added it to 3 multiplied by 2.
The distributive property is a fundamental concept in algebra and is used in many mathematical operations, including factoring polynomials, simplifying expressions, and solving equations.
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