Question

A friend uses the distributive property to simplify 4(2b-5) and gets 8b-5 as the result. Describe and correct the error.

Answer 1

4(2b-) is another way of saying (4 times 2b) plus (4 times -5). The friend mistake is by not multiplying the 5 in the parentheses. So the correct answer would be: 8b - 20

Answer 2

They failed to multiply 4 to both terms. The correct answer would be,

8b - 20