Question

Use the distributive property to simplify each expression.

-2(x - 2) + 5x

please help

Answer 1

3x + 4

Explanation:

Using the distributive property simply means that when there is a number in front of a pair of parentheses, every value inside the parentheses is multiplied by the co-efficient to expand the parentheses.

Here, the coefficient is -2, therefore we multiply both terms inside the parentheses (x and -2) by -2 to expand them:

-2(x - 2) + 5x

= (-2)(x) + (-2)(-2) + 5x

Now we simply evaluate and combine like terms to simplify:

= -2x +4 +5x

= 3x + 4