Math Elementary arithmetic Distributive law

Distributive law

The important rule of the distributive law (distributive property) is:

!

Remember

You can either multiply a sum with a factor or multiply each summand with this factor and add the partial products.
$a\cdot(b+c)=a\cdot b+a\cdot c$

Examples

  • $5\cdot(6+3)=5\cdot6+5\cdot3$
    $5\cdot9=30+15$
    $45=45$

  • $-8\cdot(4+5)=-8\cdot4+(-8)\cdot5$
    $-8\cdot9=-32-40$
    $-72=-72$