Question

Use the distributive property to simplify the expression below:
The quantity of 2 times x minus 8 all divided by 2

x − 8
x − 4
2x − 4
x + 2

Answer 1

Remember that division is the same as muliplication by the reciprocal:

\[\Large \dfrac{ 2x-8 }{ 2 }=\dfrac{ 1 }{ 2 }\left(2x-8\right)\]

So just distribute the (1/2) through the parens per the distributive property:

\(\Large a(b-c)=ab-ac\)