the distributive property to remove the parentheses.

When you apply the distributive property to , you multiply each term inside the parentheses by . This results in:

Putting it all together, you get the expression:

If you find yourself struggling with signs while distributing, it can help to write out the multiplication clearly step by step. A common mistake is to overlook the negative signs; always keep an eye out for them! Remember, two negatives make a positive, so equals .