ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Cutting plane

Imagine you have a big juicy watermelon, and you want to cut it into pieces. However, you don't want to cut it into any pieces, you want to cut it in such a way that you can see all the yummy red inside. So what do you do? You take a knife and make a straight cut right through the middle of the watermelon. Now you can see all the yummy red inside!

Now, let's say instead of a watermelon, you have a 3D shape, like a toy car or a building. And let's say you want to look inside this shape to see what's going on inside. You can't just cut it in half like a watermelon, because it's not that simple. So what can you do?

This is where a cutting plane comes in! A cutting plane is just like a big sheet of paper that you can imagine slicing through the 3D shape. As it slices through the shape, it cuts off part of the shape and reveals what's inside. This is very helpful if you want to know how something works, or if you need to make changes to it.

For example, imagine you are an engineer and you are designing a car engine. You want to make sure that all the parts fit together correctly and that there are no problems. You can use a cutting plane to see inside the engine and make sure everything is connected properly. Or, if you are an architect designing a building, you can use a cutting plane to see the inside of the building and make sure that everything is in the right place.

So, a cutting plane is just a way to look inside a 3D shape by slicing it with an imaginary sheet of paper. It's a handy tool that helps us understand how things work and make improvements to them.