ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

LogSumExp

Logsumexp is a math thingy that helps us add up a bunch of numbers without getting confused. Imagine you have a huge pile of candies and you want to know how many candies you have in total. Instead of counting each candy one by one, you can put them all in a big bowl and count how many bowls you have. This is much easier!

Logsumexp works in a similar way. Sometimes we have a lot of numbers that are very small or very big. This can make it hard for us to add them together. But logsumexp can put all these numbers in a big bowl and make them easier to add.

First, we take each number and use a special math function called "log". This function helps us turn big or small numbers into more manageable ones. For example, imagine we have the numbers 100 and 0.001. Using log, we can turn 100 into 2 (because log(100) = 2) and turn 0.001 into -3 (because log(0.001) = -3).

Next, we add up all the "log" numbers we have. This gives us one big "log" number that represents the total of all the original numbers.

Finally, we use another special math function called "exp" (which is kind of like the opposite of log) to turn this big "log" number back into a regular number. Ta-da! This is the answer we were looking for.

So, logsumexp is like putting all the numbers we want to add in a big bowl, turning them into "log" numbers, adding them up, and then turning them back into regular numbers using "exp". It may sound complicated, but it's actually a really helpful tool for doing math quickly and accurately!