Distributive Law

Definition

The distributive law allows us to distribute (or break apart) an expression into smaller parts and then combine them back together. It helps simplify calculations by breaking down complex expressions.

Analogy

Imagine you have a bag of candies and you want to share them equally among your friends. Instead of giving each friend one candy at a time, you can use the distributive law by putting equal amounts in separate bags for each friend and then handing out those bags.

Related terms

Expression: A combination of variables, constants, and operators used to represent a value or perform calculations.

Coefficient: A number multiplied by a variable in an algebraic expression.

Like Terms: Terms in an algebraic expression that have identical variables raised to identical powers.