Answer:
Partner 1 receives $55,056.70, Partner 2 gets $86,209.34, and Partner 3 receives $137,234.96 from the $278,500 profit distribution.
The main keyword in this question is "distribution" as it requires calculating how the $278,500 profit generated by the three-partner physician's office is distributed among the partners based on their original investments. To find each partner's share, we first add up their initial investments: Partner 1 ($106,000) + Partner 2 ($166,000) + Partner 3 ($256,000) = $528,000.
Next, we determine each partner's proportion by dividing their individual investment by the total investment ($106,000 / $528,000 = 0.2008 for Partner 1, $166,000 / $528,000 = 0.3144 for Partner 2, and $256,000 / $528,000 = 0.4848 for Partner 3). Finally, we distribute the profit by multiplying each partner's proportion by the total profit ($278,500) to get $55,056.70 for Partner 1, $86,209.34 for Partner 2, and $137,234.96 for Partner 3, rounded to the nearest cent.