Question

What is -(5×(-4))? how do I solve it? the answer is supposed to be 20 but I'm getting -20?

-(5×(-4))
-5×4 (since there was a negative sign before the parenthesis, you're supposed to change the sign of each term inside)
-20.

where did i go wrong?​

Answer 1

`-(-5*(-4))=-(-20)=20`

Explanation:

Notice that the product within the brackets is:

`5*(-4)=-20`

Then, by first evaluating the product within the brackets, we get the following:

`-(5*(-4))=-(-20)`

Finally, note that the negative of negative twenty is twenty as follows:

`-(-20)=20`

*Note on your mistake:

You cannot distribute the negative sign to each component of a product.

This can only happen if the expression within the bracket is a sum, for instance:

`-(5+(-4))=-5+4`

Answer 2

`-(5\cdot(-4))=-(-20)=20`

Distributive property works only for addition.

`a(b+c)=ab+ac` but
`a(bc)=abc`, not
`ab+ac` or something like that.