Answer
The distributive property is given by $a(b+c)=ab+ac$
Work Step by Step
Let $a$ be the price of the metal and let $b$ be the price of the beverage.
Since every person ordered the same meal and the same beverage, the total cost for one person is $a+b$.
Another way to calculate the total check is to multiply the price of the meal and the price of the beverage by $5$ separately and add those two products
$a.5+b.5$
Since the total check is equal in both cases, it can be written as
$(a+b)5=a.5+b.5$
The equality of the expression on the left and right sides of the equation is given by the distributive property.
Hence the two ways for calculating the total check illustrate the distributive property.
