Subject: Monomials

Explain why (x+y)z is not equal to xz+yz? P.S. Z is an exponent

Education level:
Middle School/Junior High



Hi,

Since the letters x, y and z stand for numbers, you can show that two expressions are not the equal by finding specific numbers x, y and z that give different values for the two expressions. Many choices will work here. For example:

Let x = 1, y = 2 and z = 2, then (x + y)z = (1 + 2)2 = 32 = 9 and xz + yz = 12 + 22 = 1 + 4 = 5 Hence the two expressions are not equal since 5 is not equal to 9.

Penny

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