You try - distribute a negative number

Apply the distributive property. DO NOT combine like terms (yet).

1 answer

Sure! The distributive property states that \( a(b + c) = ab + ac \). If we want to distribute a negative number, say \(-k\), over an expression like \((x + y)\), we can apply the distributive property as follows:

\[ -k(x + y) = -kx + (-ky) \]

Here, \(-k\) is distributed to both \(x\) and \(y\), resulting in \(-kx\) and \(-ky\).

If you have a specific expression in mind that you want to distribute a negative number over, feel free to share!