Can someone explain to me the rules of distribution. I have a word problem which asks my opinion of applying distribution to each problem but I don't completely understand distribution and when it is applied and when it isn't.
a. The wealth of the parents of students attending your
school
b. The values that a group of fourth-grade students
would give for the length of a segment that they
measured with a ruler
c. The SAT or ACT examination scores in mathematics
for students who were in your high school
graduation class
d. The weights of all incoming freshman students at
your school
What I know about normal distribution is that it has to do with the bell curve. I am supposed to answer which ones are and are not normally distributed. How am I supposed to do that without the variables, such as the mean, sd, etc?
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Oh okay, thank you!
Well, you can have normal distribution, binomial distribution, and uniform distribution
I would bet all are normal distribution
Thank you Bobpursley!
Of course! Distribution is a fundamental concept in mathematics, specifically when working with algebraic expressions. It involves multiplying each term inside parentheses by a common factor outside the parentheses. The purpose of distribution is to simplify expressions and perform mathematical operations more efficiently.
To help you understand when to apply distribution, let's work through an example:
Suppose we have the expression: 2(3x + 4)
To distributively multiply 2 by both terms inside the parentheses, we multiply 2 by 3x and then by 4.
First, let's distribute 2 to 3x:
2 * 3x = 6x
Next, let's distribute 2 to 4:
2 * 4 = 8
So, after distribution, the expression becomes:
6x + 8
In this example, we applied distribution because we had a constant (2) multiplied by a sum (3x + 4). By distributing the constant to both terms inside the parentheses, we simplified the expression.
However, there are cases where distribution is not necessary or applicable. Let's consider another example:
(5 + 2) + 3
In this case, we don't need to apply distribution because there are no variables or coefficients outside the parentheses to multiply. We can simply remove the parentheses:
5 + 2 + 3 = 10
In general, distribution is commonly used when you have a term (constant or variable) multiplying a sum or difference within parentheses. It allows you to simplify expressions by distributing the multiplication across every term inside the parentheses.
Keep in mind that distribution is not limited to addition or subtraction alone. It can also be extended to multiplication or division operations as well, depending on the context of the problem.
I hope this explanation helps clarify the rules of distribution and provides you with a better understanding of when to apply it. If you have any more specific questions or examples, feel free to ask!