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Exercises Expressions, exponents and radicals

Example 7.32 from Prealgebra, 7.3 Distributive Property

Distributive Property: example 7.32

When $y = 35$ evaluate ⓐ $− (y + 5)$ and ⓑ $− y - 5$ to show that $- (y + 5) = − y - 5 .$

Work it out on paper first. Then open the solution one step at a time, and stop as soon as you can finish on your own.

Solution

ⓐ

$− (y + 5)$

Add in the parentheses. $- (40)$

Simplify. $−40$

ⓑ

$- y - 5$

Simplify. $−40$

The answers are the same when $y = 35,$ demonstrating that $- (y + 5) = − y - 5$

Your turn

The book's Try It right after this example: same idea, new numbers. Only the answer is given.

Evaluate when $x = 36 :$ ⓐ $- (x - 4)$ ⓑ $- x + 4$ to show that $- (x - 4) = - x + 4 .$

How did it go?

PreviousDistributive Property: example 7.31 Next Properties of Identity, Inverses, and Zero: example 7.33

From Prealgebra (1st edition) by OpenStax (Rice University), section 7.3, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Original at openstax.org. We split the solution into steps; the words, numbers and figures are the book's. OpenStax doesn't endorse this site.