ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Back-of-the-envelope calculation

A back-of-the-envelope calculation is like when you scribble some numbers quickly on the back of an envelope or a piece of paper to help you figure out something quickly.

Imagine you want to figure out how much money you will need to save to buy a toy you really want. You don't need to use a calculator or make a fancy chart, you can just write down some simple numbers and do some basic addition and subtraction to get an estimate.

It's kind of like when you count your allowance money to see if you have enough to buy some candy from the store. You just count how much money you have and how much the candy costs and decide if you can afford it or not.

So, a back-of-the-envelope calculation is just a quick and simple way to figure out something without spending too much time or getting too complicated. Sometimes it's not super precise, but it can be very helpful to give you an idea of what you need to do or how much you can afford.