This summer, battle lines were drawn over a simple math problem: 8 ÷ 2(2 + 2) = ? If you divide 8 by 2 first, you get 16, but if you multiply 2 by (2 + 2) first, you get 1. So, which answer is right?

I observed an Algebra class recently where students were trying to multiply two polynomials, (x + 5) and (3x 2 - 5x - 4). And as I roamed the room, I noticed several students who were stuck because ...

As we cannot simplify what is within the bracket, we must instead use the distributive property of this expression. This means that we can rewrite the above ...