Flashcard 13 - Math Flashcard Set for the NLN NEX

the distributive property

The distributive property is a foundational principle for the manipulation of expressions. It involves multiplication and addition or subtraction. The distributive property is:

\[a \times (b+c) = (a \times b) + (a \times c)\]

We can see that multiplying a term by the sum or difference of two others is equivalent to multiplying the term by each individually and then combining the results. This is how we would expand the given expression:

\[-3 \times (2x-5)\] \[= (-3 \times 2x) + (-3 \times (-5))\] \[=-6x+15\]