Question

How is the distributive property used when finding the product of two polynomials?

Answer 1

The distributive property can be used to multiply a polynomial by a monomial. Just remember that the monomial must be multiplied by each term in the polynomial. Consider the expression 2x(2x2 + 5x + 10).

This expression can be modeled with a sketch like the one below. This model is called an area model because the rectangular pieces represent the area created by the multiplication of the monomial and the polynomial.