Question

Sometimes you can use the distributive property to expand an expression.

Answer 1

Given:

After expanding $-3(5-x)$ we get an equivalent expression $-15+3x$.

The given expression is $-4(-a+2)$.

To find:

The equivalent expression by using distributive property.

Solution:

According to the distributive property of multiplication over addition, if a, b, c are real values, then

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

We have,

$-4(-a+2)$

Using distributive property of multiplication over addition, we get

$-4(-a+2)=(-4)(-a)+(-4)(2)$

$-4(-a+2)=4a+(-8)$

$-4(-a+2)=4a-8$

Therefore, the expression $4a-8$ is equivalence to $-4(-a+2)$.