Question

how does distibutive property work?

Answer 1

Hi, the distributive property says that \(a(b + c) = ab + ac\).

Answer 2

ParthKohli is correct. For example, if the equation is 3(4+2), then instead of doing 4+2 first, you multiply 3 to both of the numbers inside the parentheses and then add the products together.

3 times 4 is 12, and 3 times 2 is 6. So 12+6=18. In some problems it ends up the same as it would have if you just did the parentheses first, but this is just another way teachers want us to do it.