use the distributive property in reverse to rewrite each algebraic expression

Question

use the distributive property in reverse to rewrite each algebraic expression

5X + 80

Answer 1

To reverse the distributive property, look for a common divisor of the quantities (5X, 80) in your expression (5X + 80) and rewrite the expression in the following manner.  As an example, we can take the expression (3X + 18).  Both 3X and 18 are divisible by 3.  Without changing the value of the expression, we can rewrite it as 3 * (3X + 18) / 3 which is the same as 3 * (3X / 3 + 18 / 3) or 3 * (X + 6).  To check, applying the distributive property to 3 * (X + 6) would give us 3X + 3 * 6 or (3X + 18), our original expression.  Hope this helps.