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In either case, the distributive property can be described in words as: To multiply a sum (or difference) by a factor, each summand (or minuend and subtrahend) is multiplied by this factor and the resulting products are added (or subtracted).
Multiplication is distributive with respect to addition, meaning that: a · (b + c) = (a · b) + (a · c) for all a, b, c in R (left distributivity). (b + c) · a = (b · a) + (c · a) for all a, b, c in R (right distributivity). In notation, the multiplication symbol · is often omitted, in which case a · b is written as ab.
For example, multiplication is granted a higher precedence than addition, and it has been this way since the introduction of modern algebraic notation. [2] [3] Thus, in the expression 1 + 2 × 3, the multiplication is performed before addition, and the expression has the value 1 + (2 × 3) = 7, and not (1 + 2) × 3 = 9.
Matrix multiplication shares some properties with usual multiplication. However, matrix multiplication is not defined if the number of columns of the first factor differs from the number of rows of the second factor, and it is non-commutative, [10] even when the product remains defined after changing the order of the factors. [11] [12]
Multiplication by a positive number preserves the order: For a > 0, if b > c, then ab > ac. Multiplication by a negative number reverses the order: For a < 0, if b > c, then ab < ac. The complex numbers do not have an ordering that is compatible with both addition and multiplication. [30]
In the second step, the distributive law is used to simplify each of the two terms. Note that this process involves a total of three applications of the distributive property. In contrast to the FOIL method, the method using distributivity can be applied easily to products with more terms such as trinomials and higher.
The third power of the trinomial a + b + c is given by (+ +) = + + + + + + + + +. This can be computed by hand using the distributive property of multiplication over addition and combining like terms, but it can also be done (perhaps more easily) with the multinomial theorem.
In some contexts, such as the integers, distributivity over addition and the existence of a multiplicative identity is enough to uniquely determine the multiplication operation. The distributive property also provides information about addition; by expanding the product (1 + 1)(a + b) in both ways, one concludes that addition is forced to be ...