Chapter 5 · Expressions · page 25 of 68
A negative outside parentheses
levelGrade 7
standard7.EE.A.1
practiceLike terms and distributing
A minus sign in front of a group flips the sign of every term in the group. It is the distributive property with −1. It is the single most common place signs go wrong.
How to use it
- Treat the minus as multiplying by −1.
- Every term inside changes sign: plus becomes minus, minus becomes plus.
- Then combine like terms.
Example
Where it goes wrong
- Flipping only the first term: 5x − (2x + 3) is not 3x + 3.
- A negative times a negative inside giving a negative.