PERT Practice Test 2025 – Complete Guide for Exam Prep

The distributive property is utilized when you encounter a situation where you need to multiply a number by a sum or difference. This property states that a(b + c) is equal to ab + ac. In the context of the example provided, you are multiplying 3 by the sum of x and 2. By applying the distributive property, you can break this expression down into 3 times x and 3 times 2, leading to the expanded form of 3x + 6. This makes the distributive property essential for simplifying or solving expressions that involve multiplication of a sum, as it allows for clearer organization of the terms and can facilitate further calculations or manipulations.

In contrast, simple addition problems do not involve this kind of multiplication or the need for distribution, and division problems do not apply either. While some geometry problems may use the distributive property, they are not exclusively associated with it like problems that involve the multiplication of sums are. Thus, the use of the distributive property is specifically and aptly captured in problems involving multiplication of a sum.