Question

A student attempted to generate an equivalent expression using the distributive property, as shown below: 2(x + 5) = 2x + 5 What was the mistake made? 2 was not multiplied by x 2 was not multiplied by 5 Incorrect sign was used for the first term Incorrect sign was used for the second term

Answer 1

The answer is 2 was not multiplied by 5

Explanation:

Answer 2

2(x+5) = 2x + 5

The mistake made was that 2 was not multiplied by 5.

In distributive property of multiplication, the number outside the parenthesis must be multiplies to all numbers inside the parentheses with its corresponding signs.

2(x+5) = 2(x) + 2(5) = 2x + 10

Here is another example of a distributive property:

3(x+5) - 2(x-5)
3(x) + 3(5) - 2(x) -2(-5)
3x + 15 -2x + 10
3x - 2x + 15 + 10 * group like terms
x + 25