Question Video: Rewriting Expressions Using the Distributive Property Mathematics

Video Transcript

Rewrite nineteen times thirty-four plus twenty-one using the distributive property.

Let’s remind ourselves what the distributive property says. Here’s a representation of the distributive property: 𝑎 times 𝑏 plus 𝑐 equals 𝑎 times 𝑏 plus 𝑎 times 𝑐. We’ve taken our 𝑎 and distributed it across the 𝑏 and the 𝑐. Instead of adding 𝑏 plus 𝑐 and then multiplying by 𝑎, we’re gonna multiply our 𝑎 times the 𝑏, multiply our 𝑎 times the 𝑐, and then add them together. Both options produce the same value in the end; they’re equal.

We want to rewrite nineteen times thirty-four plus twenty-one using the same property. How would we do that? We need to distribute the nineteen across the thirty-four and the twenty-one. This is what that would look like: nineteen times thirty-four plus nineteen times twenty-one.

We can’t forget that there’s still an element of addition in the problem. Our question asked us to rewrite the expression using the distributive property. This is what that looks like: nineteen times thirty-four plus nineteen times twenty-one.