ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Gain graph

A gain graph is a way to show how much something has increased or decreased in size or amount over time. Let's pretend you have a toy car that you play with every day. We can use a gain graph to show how much the car's speed has increased from day 1 to day 5.

The gain graph has two parts: the x-axis and y-axis. The x-axis is the horizontal line at the bottom of the graph that shows the days (in our example, day 1 to day 5). The y-axis is the vertical line on the left-hand side of the graph that shows the car's speed in miles per hour (mph).

On the first day, you measure the car's speed and it's going 10 mph. You mark the point where the x-axis intersects with the y-axis at the point (day 1, 10 mph). This is called the starting point.

On day 2, you measure the car's speed again and it's going 12 mph. You mark the point on the graph where the x-axis intersects with the y-axis at the point (day 2, 12 mph).

You repeat this process for day 3 (15 mph), day 4 (18 mph), and day 5 (20 mph). After you mark the fifth point on the graph, you will see a line connecting all of the points. This line shows how much the car's speed has increased over time.

So, in our example, we can see that the car's speed increased from 10 mph on day 1 to 20 mph on day 5. That's a gain of 10 mph!

Overall, a gain graph is a tool that helps us see how much something has increased or decreased over time in a clear and easy-to-understand way.