 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Distributive Property
Number Properties
Students should be able to:
- 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.
When we multiply 4 by 20 we get 80 and 4 x 5 equals 20. 80 + 20 equals 100!
Number Properties
- Constitution Webquest
- Slavery in America
- Waves of Immigration
- Declaration of Independence