The Extended Distributive Property

$(x-4)\times (x-2) = x^2 - 2x - 4x + 8 = x^2 - 6x + 8$

$(x+3)\times (x+6) = x^2 + 6x + 3x + 18 = x^2 + 9x + 18$

The distributive property allows us to remove parentheses and simplify an expression, even if there is more than one set of parentheses.

In order to get rid of of the parentheses, we will multiply each term of the first parentheses by each term of the second parentheses, paying special attention to the addition/ subtraction signs.

For example:

$(5+8)\times (7+2)$

Using the distributive property, we can simplify the expression.

All we need to do is to multiply each of the terms in the first parentheses by each of the terms in the second parentheses:

$(5+8)\times (7+2) =$

$5\times 7+5\times 2+8\times 7+8\times 2 =$

$35+10+56+16 =$

$117$

Basic distributive property

Let's take a moment to remember our basic distributive property.

Below we can see the formula:

$a\times(b+c)=ab+ac$

Here, we have multiplied $a$ by each of the terms inside the parentheses, keeping the same order.

Extended distributive property

Now we will apply the same concept in the extended distributive property. This allows us to solve exercises with two sets of parentheses.

For example:
$(a+b)\times(c+d)=ac+ad+bc+bd$

How does the extended distributive property work?

• Step 1: Multiply the first term in the first parentheses by each of the terms in the second parentheses.
• Step 2: Multiply the second term in the first parentheses by each of the terms in the second parentheses.
• Step 3: Associate like terms.

Step 1: Multiply $A$ by each of the terms included in the second parentheses.

Step 2: Multiply $2$ by each of the terms included in the second parentheses.

Step 3: Order the terms and combine like terms, if any:

So, what do we do when we see a minus sign in one or both of the parentheses? Do we do anything different?

The method is the same! The only difference is that we need to make sure to put out minus/ negative signs in the right places when we distribute.

It can helpful to remember that a "minus sign" is the same as saying "plus a negative number."

For example, $4-2=4+(-2)=2$

Let's look at the exercise:

Step 1: Multiply $A$ by each of the terms included inside the second parentheses.

Step 2: Multiply $5$ by each of the terms included inside the second parentheses.

Pay attention to the signs of each of the terms! For example, we will see that, $-5$ times $-3$ equals $+15$.

In this case, there are no terms that we want to combine.

Task:

Find the value of $X$:

$(X+2)^2=(X+5)\times(X-2)$

Let's look at the left side of the equation and simplify:

$(X+2)^2=(X+2)\times(X+2)$

Now we can use the extended distributive property on each side of the equation.

Now the equation looks like this:

$(X+2)\times(X+2)=(X+5)\times(X-2)$

After applying the distributive property:

$X^2 + 2X + 2X + 4 = X^2 – 2X + 5X – 10$

Let's reduce, combine like terms and arrange the equation.

We will get:

$X = - 14$

If you found this article helpful you may also be interested in the following:

• Equivalent expressions / Equivalent algebraic expressions.
• The associative property
• The distributive property for 1st ESO students
• The distributive property in the case of divisions
• The distributive property in the case of multiplication
• The distributive property: extension

For a wide range of mathematics articles, visit Tutorela's website.

Assignment:

A painter has a canvas with the following dimensions:

$(23x+12)$ length

$(20x+7)$ width

What is the area the painter needs to paint?

Solution:

We multiply the length of the canvas by the width to find the area.

$(23x+12)\times(20x+7)=$

Multiply each term in the first parentheses by each term in the second parentheses.

$23x\times20x+23x\times7+12\times20x+12\times7=$

We solve accordingly

$460x^2+161x+240x+84=$

$460x^2+401x+84$

Answer:

$460x^2+401x+84$

Task:

Find the area of the following rectangle:

Leave variables in your answer.

Solution:

To find the area we multiply the width by the length.

$3y\times(y+3z)=$

Multiply 3y by each of the terms in parentheses.

$3y\times y+3y\times3z=$

Solve accordingly

$3y^2+9yz$

Answer:

$3y^2+9yz$

Task:

$(3+20)\times(12+4)=$

Solution:

We multiply each of the terms in the first parentheses by the terms in the second parentheses.

$3\times12+3\times4+20\times12+20\times4=$

Solve accordingly

$36+12+240+80=$

We add everything together

$48+320=368$

Answer:

$368$

Task:

$(12+2)\times(3+5)=$

Solution:

We multiply each of the terms in the first parentheses by the terms of the second parentheses.

$12\times3+12\times5+2\times3+2\times5=$

Solve accordingly

$36+60+6+10=$

We add everything together

$96+16=112$

Answer:

$112$

Task:

$(7x+4)\times(3x+4)=$

Solution:

We multiply each of the terms of the first parentheses by the terms of the second parentheses.

$7x\times3x+7x\times4+4\times3x+4\times4=$

Solve accordingly

$21x^2+28x+12x+16=$

$21x^2+40x+16$

Answer:

$21x^2+40x+16$

Task:

$(2x-3)\times(5x-7)$

We multiply each of the terms of the first parentheses by the terms of the second parentheses.

$2x\times5x+2x\times(-7)+(-3)\times5x+(-3)\times(-7)=$

Solve accordingly

$10x^2-14x-15x+21=$

$10x^2-29x+21$

Answer:

$10x^2-29x+21$

The distributive property of multiplication is a rule in mathematics that says that multiplying the sum of two (or more) numbers is the same as multiplying the numbers separately and adding/ subtracting them together.

Distributive property of multiplication over addition:

$a\times\left(b+c\right)=a\times b+a\times c$

Distributive property of multiplication over subtraction:

$a\times\left(b-c\right)=a\times b-a\times c$

Just as in the distributive property of multiplication, the distributive property of division (also over addition or subtraction) helps us to simplify an expression.

We can express it as follows:

$\left(a+b\right):c=a:c+b:c$

The extended distributive property uses the same concept as the basic distributive property to simplify expressions with two sets of parentheses.

Task:

Solve $\left(x+3\right)\left(x-8\right)=$

We will use the extended distributive property, multiplying each of the terms as follows:

$\left(x+3\right)\left(x-8\right)=x^2-8x+3x-24$

Reducing like terms we get

$\left(x+3\right)\left(x-8\right)=x^2-5x-24$

Answer

$x^2-5x-24$

Task:

$\left(2x-1\right)\left(3x-5\right)=$

Using the extended distributive property we get:

$\left(2x-1\right)\left(3x-5\right)=6x^2-10x-3x+5$

Reducing like terms:

$\left(2x-1\right)\left(3x-5\right)=6x^2-13x+5$

Answer

$6x^2-13x+5$