ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Function (mathematics)

A function is like a machine that takes in a number and gives you back another number. Imagine you have a toy that you put marbles into, and it rolls them down a track and spits them out somewhere else. That's kind of like a function.

In math, we use functions to find out what happens when we do something to a number. For example, let's say we have the function "add 3". If we put the number 2 into that function, we get out the number 5. If we put in 10, we get out 13.

Functions can get more complicated too, like "multiply by 5, then subtract 7". If we put in 4, we get out 13. If we put in 8, we get out 33.

We can also graph functions on a coordinate plane to see what they look like. This helps us understand more about how they work.

Overall, a function is a handy tool in math that helps us figure out what happens when we do things to numbers. It's like a little math machine that takes in a number and gives us back another number.