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Distribute
Distribute[
f
[
,
, ... ]] distributes f over Plus appearing in any of the  .
Distribute[
expr
,
g
] distributes over g.
Distribute[
expr
,
g
,
f
] performs the distribution only if the head of expr is f.
Distribute effectively implements the distributive law for operators f and g.
Distribute explicitly constructs the complete result of a distribution; Expand, on the other hand, builds up results iteratively, simplifying at each stage.
Example: Distribute[f[a+b,c+d]] .
Distribute[f[a+b,g[x,y],c], g].
Distribute[
expr
,
g
,
f
,
gp
,
fp
] gives gp and fp in place of g and f respectively in the result of the distribution.
See the Mathematica book: Section 2.2.10.
See also: Expand, Thread, Outer, Inner.
Further Examples
This expresses the classic distributive law of multiplication over addition.
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Here is an equivalent way to write the input.
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This is how taking a power distributes over addition.
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We can generalize this to an arbitrary function.
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Here we distribute over a product instead of a sum (two variations).
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This example is similar to ComplexExpand. (In ComplexExpand the exponent has to be a number.)
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THIS IS DOCUMENTATION FOR AN OBSOLETE PRODUCT. SEE THE DOCUMENTATION CENTER FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION. | | | |
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