Question

write the expanded form of the expression.
$\boldsymbol{ -\frac{1}{5}(y + x)}$
$ -\frac{1}{5}(y + x) = \square$
(simplify your answer. use integers or fractions for any numbers in the expression.)

Explanation:

Step1: Apply the distributive property

The distributive property states that \( a(b + c)=ab+ac \). Here, \( a = -\frac{1}{5} \), \( b = y \), and \( c = x \). So we have:
\( -\frac{1}{5}(y + x)=-\frac{1}{5}\times y+(-\frac{1}{5})\times x \)

Step2: Simplify the terms

Simplify each term:
\( -\frac{1}{5}y-\frac{1}{5}x \)
We can also rearrange the terms as \( -\frac{1}{5}x-\frac{1}{5}y \)

Answer:

\( -\frac{1}{5}x - \frac{1}{5}y \) (or \( -\frac{1}{5}y - \frac{1}{5}x \))