ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Exterior calculus identities

Exterior calculus identities are like rules that help us do tricky math things with shapes and things that are not straight. They are kind of like instructions in a recipe that tell us how to mix the ingredients to make a yummy cake.

One important thing to know is that shapes and things that are not straight can be described using a special kind of math called calculus. This helps us figure out things like the area, volume, and curvature of different shapes.

But sometimes, we need to do calculus with things that are not just straight lines or flat surfaces. That's where exterior calculus comes in. It helps us deal with more complex shapes and things that are curved, like a sphere or a donut.

So, exterior calculus identities are like special instructions that help us do calculus with these more complex shapes. They help us find things like the gradient, divergence, and curl of a field, which are important things to know if you want to do things like calculate the flow of a fluid or the forces acting on an object.

Now, these identities can be a bit tricky to understand at first, but they are very important for lots of different applications in science, engineering, and math. So, if you want to be a smart cookie and do cool math things with weird shapes, it's worth taking some time to learn about exterior calculus identities!