How do you multiply # - ( -3u - z - 5 )#?

1 Answer
MathFact-orials.blogspot.com
May 20, 2016

Each term gets multiplied by the #-1# and we add up the results to get #3u+z+5#

Explanation:

Let's start with the question:

#-(-3u-z-5)#

Let's first realize that the negative sign at the front of the brackets is the number #-1#:

#(-1)(-3u-z-5)#

So now to the distributive principle - each term in the first set of brackets (the #-1#) gets to multiply each of the terms in the second set of brackets (the #(-3u-z-5)#). And then we write down the results of each multiplication:

#-1*-3u=3u#
#-1*-z=z#
#-1*-5=5#

And now we add up the results:

#3u+z+5#

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