Which statement describes the distributive property?

Which statement describes the distributive property?

• A. Multiplying a number outside the parentheses distributes over the terms inside the parentheses when added or subtracted
• B. Adding inside the parentheses distributes to the outside
• C. Dividing terms inside parentheses
• D. Exponentiating sums

Answer: (B)

Distributive property means you can spread an outside factor across each term inside parentheses. In practice, multiplying a number outside the parentheses multiplies every term inside and you then add or subtract those products. For example, 3(4+5) becomes 3×4 + 3×5, which is 12 + 15. The same idea works with subtraction: 3(4−5) = 3×4 − 3×5. So, the statement describes the same idea in words: the addition inside the parentheses is the part that gets distributed to the outside factor when you multiply. The precise way to state it is that multiplication distributes over addition (and over subtraction). Other operations don’t describe distributivity: dividing terms inside parentheses isn’t the distributive action, and exponentiating sums is a different operation altogether.

Distributive property means you can spread an outside factor across each term inside parentheses. In practice, multiplying a number outside the parentheses multiplies every term inside and you then add or subtract those products. For example, 3(4+5) becomes 3×4 + 3×5, which is 12 + 15. The same idea works with subtraction: 3(4−5) = 3×4 − 3×5.

So, the statement describes the same idea in words: the addition inside the parentheses is the part that gets distributed to the outside factor when you multiply. The precise way to state it is that multiplication distributes over addition (and over subtraction).

Other operations don’t describe distributivity: dividing terms inside parentheses isn’t the distributive action, and exponentiating sums is a different operation altogether.