Video Transcript
Evaluate three open parenthesis 26 add 11 close parenthesis using the distributive property.
There are two ways of answering this question. Firstly, we can add the two numbers in the parentheses 26 add 11 and then multiply the answer by three. 26 plus 11 is 37 and 37 multiplied by three give us an answer of 111. Whilst this is a perfectly valid method for this question, we were asked specifically to use the distributive property.
The distributive property involves multiplying everything inside the parentheses or brackets by the number that is outside the parentheses. In this case, it involves multiplying three by 26 and also three by 11. It’s important to note that the sign in the question, the addition sign, remains the same in our working.
Three multiplied by 26 is 78 and three multiplied by 11 is 33. When we add these numbers together, we get our final answer of 111, which you’ll notice was the same as the first method that we used. This method is the distributive property as we are distributing the three and the 26 and the three with the 11.
