Name: ____________________________________ Date: __________________

THE DISTRIBUTIVE PROPERTY

N-GEN MATH® ALGEBRA I
In the last lesson we saw two important properties of addition and multiplication: the commutative and
associative. The last of the three major properties combines addition and multiplication: the distributive property.
The first exercise will illustrate the idea.

Exercise #1: Consider the product 4 15 .

(a) Evaluate using the standard algorithm. (b) Represent the equivalent product 4  10  5  as
repeated addition of 10 and 5. Find the product.

Exercise #1 shows the important property of being able to apply multiplication to all parts of a sum. In symbolic
form:

THE DISTRIBUTIVE PROPERTY (OF MULTIPLICATION OVER ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION)

If a, b, and c all represent real numbers then:

Exercise #2: Evaluate each product by using the distributive property to make it easier. On (b), express 18 as a
subtraction. Do not use a calculator.

(a) 7  23 (b) 9 18

Exercise #3: The distributive property can be used twice in order to multiply two-digit numbers. Find the product
12  28 by evaluating 10  2 20  8 . Show each step in your calculation. Do not use a calculator unless it
is to check.

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The distributive property can also be used on expressions that involve variables.
Exercise #4: Express the following products as binomial expressions. Show each step in your calculation.
(a) 5  2 x  3 (b) 4  5 x  8

(c) x  x  4  (d) 5 x  2  7 x 

Although not as commonly used, the distributive property also works for division. For division (represented in
fraction form), the property would be the following.

THE DISTRIBUTIVE PROPERTY (OF DIVISION OVER ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION)

If a, b, and c all represent real numbers then:

Exercise #5: Express each of the following quotients as binomials in simplest form. Show your calculations.
Some of your final answers will contain fractional coefficients.

8x  4 25 x  50
(a) (b)
2 5

2 x  16 9 x  18
(c) (d)
4 12

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Name: ____________________________________ Date: __________________
THE DISTRIBUTIVE PROPERTY
N-GEN MATH® ALGEBRA I HOMEWORK

FLUENCY
1. Using the equivalent expressions provided find the value of the expression on the left by evaluating the
expression on the right. Show your work.
96 90 6
(a) 5  42   5  40  2  (b)   (c) 5  58   5  60  2 
3 3 3

2. Which of the following is equivalent to the product 7  2 x  8  ?

(1) 14 x  56 (3) 9 x  16

(2) 14 x  8 (4) 9 x  8

4 x  40
3. The quotient can be rewritten in simplest form as
8

(1) 2 x  40 (3) 2 x  5

1 1
(2) x  40 (4) x5
2 2

4. Simplify the following expressions using the distributive property. Show your calculations.

(a) 5  8 x  3 (b) 4  3x  7  (c) 2  6 x  11

36 x  21 12  2 x 3  4 x  10 
(d) (e) (f)
3 4 6

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5. Use the distributive property to rewrite each product below in its simplest form.
2
(a) 4 x  5 x  7  (b) 2 y  8 y  11 (c) n  9n  3
3

APPLICATIONS
6. The sum of an unknown number and 15 can be represented by the expression n  15 . Give a binomial
expression, in simplest form, that represents three times this quantity.

7. Eight times an unknown number which is then decreased by four is given by the expression 8 x  4 , where x
is the unknown number. Give an expression that represents one-fourth of this expression.

REASONING
8. In the lesson we saw that we can multiply 2-digit numbers by using the distributive property twice. Use this
knowledge to multiply the following terms. Show the calculations that lead to you answers.

(a)  22  31   20  2  30  1 (b)  52 11   50  2 10  1

9. Which of the following is equivalent to  2 x  2  3 x  1 ? It may help to use problem #8(a) as a reference.

(1) 6 x 2  2 (3) 6 x 2  8 x  2

(2) 5 x 2  8 x  3 (4) 16x 3

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