Algebraic Method

Let's return to the essential points within the topic of exponents:

In fact, exponents are a shorthand way of writing the multiplication of a number by itself several times. It looks like this:
$4^5$

$4$ is the number that is multiplied by itself. It is called the Base of the exponent.
$5$ represents the number of times the multiplication of the base is repeated and it is called the Exponent.

That is, in our example:
$4^5=4\times4\times4\times4\times4$

Let's remember that any number raised to the power of $1$ equals the number itself
That is:

$4^1=4$

And remember that any number raised to the power of $0$ equals $1$
$4^0=1$

Mathematical definition to the power of $0$.

An important point to note is the difference between an exponent inside brackets and an exponent outside brackets. For example, what is the difference between

$(-4)^2$ and $-4^2$
It is an important case that could be confusing. When the exponent is outside of the brackets, as in the first case, you have to raise the entire expression to the given exponent, that is

$(-4)^2=(-4)\times(-4)=16$

Conversely, in the second case, one must first calculate the exponent and then deal with the negative sign. That is:

$-4^2=-(4\times4)=-16$

Also remember that exponents come before four of the operations in the order of mathematical operations, but not before parentheses.

For example:
$3\times(4-2)^2=3\times(2)^2=3\times4=12$

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We usually encounter the distributive property around the age of $12$. This property is useful for clearing parentheses and assists with more complex calculations. Let's remember how it works. Generally, we write it as:

$Z \times (X + Y) = ZX + ZY$

$Z \times (X - Y) = ZX - ZY$

Now let’s look at some examples with numbers to understand the formula.

$6\times26=6\times(20+6)=6\times20+6\times6=120+36=156$

We used the distributive property to solve a problem that would have been more difficult to compute directly.
We can also use the distributive property with division operations.

$104:4=(100+4):4= 100:4 + 4:4 = 25+1 = 26$

Once again, the distributive property has helped us to simplify a problem that, if solved step by step in a straightforward manner, would have been slightly more complex.

Clear the parentheses by applying the distributive property.
$3a\times(2b+5)=$

We will pay close attention to multiplying the term outside the parentheses by each of the terms inside the parentheses according to the correct order of operations.

The method of eliminating a common factor is very important. It will help us move from an expression with several terms to one that includes only one.
For example, let's look at the expression:

$2A + 4B$

This expression is now composed of two terms. We can factorize it by eliminating the greatest common term. In this case, it's the number $2$.
We will write it as follows:

$2A+4B=2\times(A+2B)$

We will realize that we have moved from a situation in which we had two parts being added together, to a situation with multiplication. This procedure is called factorization.
We can use the distributive property we mentioned earlier to do the reverse process. Multiply the $2$ by each of the terms inside the parentheses:

In certain cases we might prefer an expression with multiplication, and in other cases one with addition.
In the article that elaborates on this topic, you can see more examples regarding this.

The extended distributive property is very similar to the distributive property, but it allows us to solve exercises with expressions in parentheses that are multiplied by other expressions in parentheses.
It looks like this:

$(a+b)\times(c+d)=ac+ad+bc+bd$

How does the extended distributive property work?

• Step 1: Multiply the first term of the first parentheses by each of the terms in the second parentheses.
• Step 2: Multiply the second term of the first parentheses by each of the terms in the second parentheses.
• Step 3: Combine like terms.

Example:

$(a+2)\times(3+a)=$

$(a+2)\times(3+a)=3a+a^2+6+2a=a^2+5a+6$

In the full article about the extended distributive property, you can find detailed explanations and many more examples.