Exercise 34 Page 421

Let's take a look at the given expression. 3/4x -24 We want to use the Distributive Property in reverse to factor the expression. To do so, we first want to write the constant as an improper fraction with a denominator of 4. Let's do it!

Now, notice that the numerator of the fraction to the left of the variable x is 3. Let's factor the numerator of our improper fraction so that one of the factors is 3. Then, move the second factor to the right of the fraction.

Let's rewrite our expression using the changes we made to the constant term. 3/4x -24 ⇔ 3/4x - 3/4 * 32 Finally, let's factor out the fraction 3 4 in our expression. 3/4x - 3/4 * 32 ⇔ 3/4(x-32)