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Contributor: Elephango Editors. Lesson ID: 10298
Learn how to multiply numbers the smart way with Mr. D Math! The distributive property makes multiplication easier by breaking numbers apart. Watch, practice, and apply it in real life!
T-Shirt Math!
Imagine you’re shopping for T-shirts, and each one costs $9.99. You want to buy 5 of them.
That’s where the distributive property comes in! It’s a trick that lets you split up numbers to make multiplying them faster and simpler.
Even professional mathematicians and engineers use it—so get started and learn how you can, too!
Breaking It Down
Watch the video below to see how the distributive property helps make multiplying numbers easier.
Now, apply what you saw in the video!
The distributive property lets you break apart numbers into simpler pieces, multiply them separately, and then add them back together.
Here’s how it works with the T-shirt example.
9.99 × 5 can be rewritten as:
(10 - 0.01) × 5
Now, distribute the 5:
Now subtract:
50 - 0.05 = 49.95
You just used the distributive property to make the multiplication easier! Instead of struggling with decimals, you turned it into a simple multiplication problem.
Now that you've seen how it works, practice breaking numbers apart and using the distributive property yourself in the Got It? section!
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