Question

Ryan is multiplying
5
⋅
(
−
2
)
⋅
(
1
2
)
.
The second step of his work follows.

Step 1: _[blank]_

Step 2: Multiply
5
by
−
1
.
Which answer correctly fills in the blank to show the first step he must have taken?

Responses

Multiply
5
by
1
2
.
Multiply 5 by

Multiply
−
2
by
5
.
Multiply negative 2 by

Multiply
−
2
by
1
2
.

Answer 1

To determine the correct first step, we need to analyze the problem Ryan is attempting to solve:

He is multiplying \( 5 \cdot (-2) \cdot \left(\frac{1}{2}\right) \).

In order to arrive at the second step ("Multiply 5 by -1"), Ryan likely first simplified the multiplication of \( (-2) \cdot \left(\frac{1}{2}\right) \).

Since this multiplication involves \( -2 \) and \( \frac{1}{2} \), the appropriate first step should be:

**Multiply -2 by \(\frac{1}{2}\).**

This would yield \( -1 \), and then the next step would indeed involve multiplying \( 5 \) by \( -1 \).

So, the correct answer that fills in the blank is:

**Multiply -2 by \(\frac{1}{2}\).**