Question

Use the distributive property to show how you can solve this problem eight times four

Answer 1

To solve \(8 \times 4\) using the distributive property, we can break down one of the numbers into parts that are easier to work with.

For example, we can break down \(8\) into \(4\) and \(4\):
\[
8 = 4 + 4
\]
Now we can use the distributive property, which states that \(a(b+c) = ab + ac\). In our case, we will distribute the \(4\) across the \(4 + 4\):

\[
8 \times 4 = (4 + 4) \times 4
\]
Using the distributive property:
\[
= 4 \times 4 + 4 \times 4
\]
Now we can calculate each part:
\[
4 \times 4 = 16
\]
So we have:
\[
= 16 + 16
\]
Finally, adding those together gives:
\[
= 32
\]

Thus, using the distributive property, we find that \(8 \times 4 = 32\).