Disztributív

Disztributív is an adjective used in Hungarian to describe the property or relation of distribution. In mathematics and logic it refers to a feature by which an operation or a relation applies across the components of a compound expression according to a distributive law.

The most common form is the distributive property of multiplication over addition: a · (b + c) = a · b + a · c, and similarly (b + c) · a = b · a + c · a. This property appears in algebraic structures such as rings and modules, where multiplication distributes over addition. In logic, distributive laws state that conjunction distributes over disjunction and vice versa: A ∧ (B ∨ C) ≡ (A ∧ B) ∨ (A ∧ C) and A ∨ (B ∧ C) ≡ (A ∨ B) ∧ (A ∨ C). These laws enable the simplification and transformation of logical expressions.

In set theory and probability, distributivity also describes how certain operations interact, for example, the union distributes over the intersection and the intersection distributes over the union in standard set operations: A ∪ (B ∩ C) = (A ∪ B) ∩ (A ∪ C) and A ∩ (B ∪ C) = (A ∩ B) ∪ (A ∩ C).

In linguistics and semantics, distributive readings refer to interpretations where a property or action applies to each member of a group individually, as in “each student received a book,” versus collective readings that do not distribute the action across individuals.

Disztributív concepts thus appear across mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, and philosophy, describing how a single operation or relation distributes over parts of a larger structure.