How do you simplify # -5(8 - 12) #?

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Answer 1 · 2018-05-08T17:13:52

#20#

Step one would be to distribute #-5# to #8# and #-12#.

#-5(8) = -40#
#-5(-12) = 60#

This makes your expression looks like this:

#-40 + 60#

You can simplify this pretty easily, as #-40 + 60# is the same thing as #60-40#, which is #20#.

Another, possibly easier, way to do it would be to use the order of operations and do the expression inside the parentheses first,

#8-12=-4#

which would make it look like this...

#-5(-4)#

...and then multiply to get #20#.