ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Deriivka

Derivatives are like the secret codes that help people figure out how things change over time. Imagine you are drawing a picture, and you want to know how much your drawing changes every second. The derivative can help you figure that out!

Now imagine you're driving a car on a bumpy road. Sometimes, the road is really steep and your car has to go uphill. Other times, the road is flat or even downhill. The rate at which your car changes speed depends on how steep the road is. Similarly, the derivative can help you figure out how fast something is changing, depending on what is happening around it.

Derivatives might sound complicated, but they're actually just a tool that helps us understand the world around us. People use them in all sorts of ways, from building bridges to predicting the stock market. By figuring out how things change, we can make better sense of the world and everything in it!