An In-Depth Look at the Distributive Property

Description

This video shows how to remember and use the distributive property, both in the normal way and in reverse. Many practice problems are provided, first with variables and then only with numbers so that students can fully understand how the distributive property works.

Overview

The distributive property is one of the three addition properties. It follows a form commonly seen in the Order of Operation problems. The distribute property states the following:

a * (b + c) = ab + ac

It is called the distributive property because what this property does is distribute what is inside the parenthesis to what it is being multiplied by. The distributive property also works in reverse:

xy + xz = x * (y + z)

In the reverse, it works by pulling out common factors in each part of the problem.

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