Question

Jacob attempted the third problem above but when checking his work realized he made a mistake. Identify what Jacob’s mistake was in your own words, and explain what Jacob would need to do differently to avoid making that mistake in the future:

Answer 1

When solving, Jacob did not distribute properly.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let's talk about 5(x + 2). The correct distribution would be 5x + 10. Jacob distributed 5 into x correctly and got 5x, however he did not distribute the 5 into 2 properly. It should have been 10, however it stayed as 2.

Jacob should be more careful when distributing, and make sure to distribute into EVERY term inside the parentheses.