Distributive Property

Distributive Property
• To illustrate the distributive property look at the
problem 3(2x-7).

• This problem says 3 times 2x-7

– or 3 of (2x-7).
• Multiplying by 3 means add 2x-7 over and over.

• 2x-7+2x-7+2x-7
• Simplify this by using the commutative property.
2x+2x+2x-7-7-7=3(2x)+3(-7)
 Distributive Property
• To use the distributive property, multiply
each term inside the parenthesis by the
multiplier.
 Watch out for…
• exponent rules
• multiplication when negatives are involved
• combining like terms
 Examples

5 3 x  8   15 x  40
 Examples

3 x  7  6 x   21x  18 x 2

4 z  6  5 z   24 z  20 z
2 2 3
 Examples

 5s  8   5s  8

4 x  2 3 x  9   4 x  6 x  18  2 x  18
 Examples

3w y  7 w  5 y   21w y  15w y
2 3 2 3 3 2 5

5  3  6 x   5  3  6 x  2  6 x
 Examples
There can be more than
two terms inside the
parenthesis.

3  4  6d  8d 2
  12  18d  24d 2

5  7 x  5 x  9   35 x  25 x  45
2 2
 Examples

6 xy 5 x y  2 xy  3xy   30 x y  12 x y  18 x y
2 2 2 3 3 2 3 2 4

3 gh3   7 gh  5 gh3  6 gh 2   3 gh3  7 gh  5 gh3  6 gh2  8 gh3  7 gh  6 gh2

 Who wants to play with
fractions?

16 x  12 x 16 x 12 x
2 2

   4 x  3x
2

4 4 4

16 x 2  12 x 16 x 2 12 x
   4 x  3 x
2

4 4 4
 Examples

15w3  25w5  75w4 15w3 25w5 75w4 5 w2

3
 3
 3
 3
1  5w
15w 15w 15w 15w 3