What is the distributive property of multiplication?

The distributive property is a math rule that helps us simplify expressions that include both multiplication and addition.

Here’s what I mean:

“3 + 4 x 2” is an example of an expression. We can make this expression easier to understand by first multiplying the 4 and 2, and then adding the result to the 3.

3 plus 4 times 2 equals 3 plus 8, which equals 11.

So, the distributive property lets us turn “3 + 4 x 2” into “3 + 8,” which is easier to solve.

Any number of factors and addends can be used with the distributive property. For instance:

(5 + 2) times 3 is equal to 5 times 3 plus 2 times 3, which is equal to 15 plus 6, which is equal to 21.