identify such properties
as commutativity, associativity, and distributivity and
use them to compute with whole numbers.
Distributive Property
What it says: The distributive
property states that if a number is mulitplied by an addition
expression inside parentheses, we can distribute it to both the
numbers inside the parentheses.
Say what?
Check out the example below.
We would read this expression 6 times 10 plus 2. If we
follow order of operations then we add 10 and 2 to get 12 and
then multiply that sum by 6 to get 72. The distributive property
says that we can get the same answer if we distribute the 6 to
the 10 and the 2.
Click the buttons below the
example to distribute the 6 to the 10 and 2.
What we're actually doing is creating a new
expression without the parentheses. When we multiply 6 by 10 we
get 60. When we multiply 6 by 2 we get 12. 60 + 12 = 72!
Still don't get it?
Check out the next example. If you quickly
add the numbers inside the parentheses, you'll notice that the
problem is actually 4 x 25. Hopefully you know that 4 x 25 equals
100. Now remember the distributive property says that you can
distribute, or multipy, the 4 by both the 20 and 5 and then add
them to get the same answer.
Click the buttons below the expression to
distribute the 4.
