ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Algebraic function

An algebraic function is when we have a bunch of numbers and letters mixed together in a special way, and we can use them to solve problems. It's like having a magic calculator that can do special things with these numbers and letters.

For example, look at this equation: y = 2x + 3. This is an algebraic function because it uses letters (x and y) and numbers (2 and 3) to tell us how they relate to each other.

The x is like a secret code for a number that we don't know yet. It's like if we were playing a guessing game and someone said "I'm thinking of a number, can you guess it?" But they didn't tell us what the number was. So we use the x to stand for that mystery number.

The 2 is like a special rule that we have to follow. It means we need to take whatever value we find for x, multiply it by 2, and then add 3 to get the value for y. So if x is 1, we do 2 * 1 + 3 = 5. And if x is 3, then we do 2 * 3 + 3 = 9.

We can use this function to solve lots of different problems. For example, if we wanted to know what y would be if x was 5, we just plug in 5 for x and do the math: y = 2 * 5 + 3 = 13.

Algebraic functions are like a puzzle that we have to solve. We can use them to help us figure out how things relate to each other, and to solve problems that we might not be able to solve otherwise.