Step-by-step explanation:
So how is the distributive property used to expand expressions? Let's use your example.
We have 2(x + 3) = 30
It seems like we're stuck, we cannot add a variable by a real number, can we? This is when the distributive property comes into play, we will use the 2 outside of the parenthesis to multiply x and 3.
2(x) + 2(6) = 30
We multiply the number inside the parenthesis since we can't solve the inside of it, therefore causing it to expand.
4(x + 5) = 43
4(x) + 4(5) = 43
^^^ Another example
