Can you use subtraction with the distributive property?

Answer 1

Wrong! See below.

No, you cannot use the distributive property for subtraction.

Let's say that your expression is:

(5 + 4) - 3

We know that parentheses must be handled first, so we know that the correct answer is:

(5 + 4) - 3 = 9 - 3 = 6.

But let's say that you tried to use the distributive propertyand applied "- 3" to each term in the parentheses. You would get:

(5 + 4) - 3 = (5 - 3) + (4 - 3) = 3

In fact, you would have subtracted not 3, but 6!

* * * * *

All very true except that this is the associative property - not distributive

The distributive property, which IS valid, gives a*(b - c) = a*b - a*c