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Distributive for Dummies

adjective

pronunciation: dɪ'strɪbjətɪv

What does Distributive really mean?

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Hey there! So, the word "distributive" basically means sharing or spreading things out evenly. It's like when you have a bunch of cookies and you want to give them to your friends. You make sure that each friend gets an equal number of cookies, so you're distributing them fairly.

But in math, "distributive" has a more specific meaning. It's a property that helps us simplify expressions and equations. It's kind of like how you can break up a big task into smaller ones to make it easier to handle. When we use the distributive property in math, we're breaking up a mathematical expression into smaller, more manageable parts.

For example, if you have the expression 3(x + 4), you can use the distributive property to simplify it by distributing the 3 to both terms inside the parentheses. So, 3(x + 4) becomes 3x + 12. It's like you're spreading the 3 to both the x and the 4.

So, in simple terms, "distributive" means sharing or spreading things out evenly, whether it's cookies with friends or numbers in a math problem. It's all about making sure everything gets distributed in a fair and equal way. Cool, right?

Revised and Fact checked by Robert Williams on 2023-11-15 08:33:00

Distributive In a sentece

Learn how to use Distributive inside a sentece

  • When you have 4 apples and you want to distribute them equally among 2 friends, you give 2 apples to each friend. This is an example of distributive sharing.
  • If you have 3 bags of candy, and you want to give 1 bag to each of your 3 cousins, that's distributive giving.
  • When you have 8 cookies and want to share them equally among 4 kids, you would give 2 cookies to each kid. This is distributive sharing.
  • Imagine you have 6 marbles and you want to divide them among 2 jars, putting 3 marbles in each jar. This is distributive dividing.
  • If you have 10 pencils and you want to split them equally between 5 students, each student would get 2 pencils. This is distributive dividing.

Distributive Antonyms

Words that have the opposite context of the original word.

Distributive Similar Words

Words that similar to the original word, but are not synonyms.