ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Number sense

Hi there! Today we're going to talk about number sense.

Number sense is being able to understand and work with numbers. It's like having a superpower that helps you understand how many things you have or how much something costs. It's kind of like having a special sixth sense that helps you work with numbers in a smart way.

Let's imagine that you're standing in front of a big pile of candy, and you want to share it with your friends. You have to figure out how many pieces of candy you can give to each friend so that everyone gets the same amount. This is where number sense comes in!

If you have good number sense, you can look at the pile of candy and figure out how many pieces you have without having to count each piece one by one. You might know that a handful of candy is usually around 10 pieces, so if you count how many handfuls you have, you can estimate how many pieces of candy are in the pile. Then you can divide that number by the number of friends you have, and figure out how many pieces each person will get.

Number sense also helps you with things like adding and subtracting numbers. Let's say you have 5 apples, and your friend gives you 3 more. If you have good number sense, you can look at those numbers and quickly realize that you now have 8 apples without having to count each apple again.

So in short, number sense is like having a superpower that helps you work with numbers easily and efficiently. It helps you figure out how many things you have, how much something costs, and how to do math problems without having to count everything one by one.