1. Distributive Property and Like Terms

2. Today’s standard: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.EE.B.4
Use variables to represent quantities in a real-world or mathematical problem, and construct simple equations and inequalities to solve problems by reasoning about the quantities.

3. Objective
Students will be able to identify equivalent expressions by using the distributive property and combining like terms with 75% accuracy at the direct station.

6. Find an equivalent expression:
4(3y + 5) =

7. Find an equivalent expression:
4(3y + 5) = 4(3y) + 4(5) = 12y + 20
Just as we showed in the Scrabble example, everything inside the “pack” needs to get multiplied by the 4 (the number of packs).

8. The distributive property states that if something outside multiplies parentheses, it multiplies every term inside of the parentheses.
Example:

9. Going back to our Scrabble example, we can say that the first bag has 3 a’s and the second bag has 3 a’s so together we have 3a + 3a = 6a. Similarly, we have 2b + 2b = 4b. However, we cannot combine the 6a and the 4b, because they are different letters.

10. Only like terms, which have exactly the same variables and exponents, can be added or subtracted.
Example: 3m + 2m = 5m but 3m + 2 cannot be simplified.