ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Continuum hypothesis

The continuum hypothesis is a really big, fancy question that mathematicians have been wondering about for a very long time.

You know how we can count numbers, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and so on? Well, those are called counting numbers or natural numbers.

But then there are other numbers too, like 1/2, 3/4, 0.5, and 1.5. These numbers are called decimals or fractions because they have a point and a bunch of numbers after it.

Now, there are way more decimals than there are natural numbers. In fact, there are so many decimals that it's hard to even imagine how many there are!

So the continuum hypothesis is all about trying to figure out if there is a really, really BIG number that is somewhere between the number of natural numbers and the number of decimals.

Some mathematicians think that there is a number like this, while others aren't so sure. It's like a big puzzle that nobody has been able to solve yet.

Overall, the continuum hypothesis is a really hard math question that nobody knows the answer to, but lots of smart people are trying to figure it out!
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