Consider the example
(3x+5) - (x-10)
When we subtract off the (x-10), we are basically subtracting off x and also subtracting off -10. This is the same as adding on 10 because -(-10) = 10
So we would have these steps
(3x+5)-(x-10)
3x+5-x+10
2x+15
Often students forget to distribute the negative all the way through and would have 3x+5-x-10 as an incorrect step. You need to multiply that -1 through to each term, so that's why the distributive property is used.
Bob has 7.5 pounds of flour
he wants to distribute the flour equally into 3 jars
how muc pounds in each jar
7.5/3=2.5 or 2 and 1/2 lb
