A quick explanation of distributive property:
Distributive property happens when multiple numbers are on the inside of parenthesis. There is a number on the outside that needs to be multiplied to both of the numbers on the inside of the parenthesis.
Distributive property is used because according to PEMDAS (the order in which you need to do operations in a multi-step equation) You need to do the problem on the INSIDE of the parenthesis first, because that's what the P in PEMDAS stands for. However, you cannot always do the operation on the inside of the parenthesis first. This normally happens because instead of having two numbers inside of the parenthesis, you have at least one variable (letter that can be any number).
An example is this: (4 + 6) 3. This equation needs to follow PEMDAS, and you need to add the numbers inside the parenthesis first, before you multiply them by the number on the outside. However, if you distributed the 3 by multiplying it to both of the numbers inside the parenthesis BEFORE you added them together, you would get the same answer. 6 + 4 = 10 and 10 x 3 is thirty. 6 x 3 = 18 and 4 x 3 = 12. 12 + 18 = 30. However you shouldn't use distributive property unless you have an equation like this:
(x + 6) 3. Now you can't add x and 6 together, because x is a variable, and variables cannot be added to numbers, but we can use distributive property to multiply to both x and 6. then the equation is: 3x + 18.
