Glossary (Version 8.4)

Multiplication of numbers is said to be ‘distributive over addition’, because the product of one number with the sum of two others equals the sum of the products of the first number with each of the others. For example, the product of 3 with (4+5) gives the same result as the sum of 3×4 and 3×5:

3×(4+5)=3×9=27 and 3×4+3×5=12+15=27

This distributive law is expressed algebraically as follows:

a(b+c)=ab+ac,  for all numbers a,b  and c.