From the course: Learning Algebra: Pre-Algebra

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,400 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

Simplifying expressions using the distributive property

Simplifying expressions using the distributive property

From the course: Learning Algebra: Pre-Algebra

Start my 1-month free trial

Simplifying expressions using the distributive property

- In this lesson, we will simplify expressions by using the Distributive Property and Combining Like Terms. We're going to simplify 5 minus 4 times the quantity 2x plus 6. We're going to start by using the Distributive Property. Notice that the Distributive Property comes at the end of this expression. When the Distributive Property comes at the end or in the middle of an expression, it's a little trickier. We're going to start with the 5. And notice, that we're distributing what looks like 4, but it's not really 4 that we're going to distribute. We need to take that sign in front. So we're actually going to distribute -4. If you don't distribute -4, your final answer will be incorrect because you have lost a sign. So -4 times 2 is -8, and I'm going to write that as -8x. And then we need to multiply - 4 times positive 6. That's -24, so I'm going to write that as minus 24. Now, we can rewrite our like terms together. Notice, that I don't have a like term for minus 8x, and that's okay…

Contents