Distributive property

Uncommon card · No. 182523

In mathematics, the distributive property of binary operations is a generalization of the distributive law, which asserts that the equality x ⋅ ( y + z ) = x ⋅ y + x ⋅ z {\displaystyle x\cdot (y+z)=x\cdot y+x\cdot z} is always true in elementary algebra. For example, in elementary arithmetic, one has 2 ⋅ ( 1 + 3 ) = ( 2 ⋅ 1 ) + ( 2 ⋅ 3 ) . {\displaystyle 2\cdot (1+3)=(2\cdot 1)+(2\cdot 3).} Therefore, one would say that multiplication distributes over addition. This basic property of numbers is part of the definition of most algebraic structures that have two operations called addition and multiplication, such as complex numbers, polynomials...

Read on Wikipedia