ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Parent function

Hey there kiddo! Do you know what a parent is? It's someone who takes care of you, right? Well, in math, a parent function is kind of like a parent too! It's a basic function that other functions are based on.

Just like how we have different types of families with different parents, there are different types of parent functions too! Some examples are the linear function (y = mx + b), the quadratic function (y = x^2), and the absolute value function (y = |x|).

Now, just like how children can have similarities and differences compared to their parents, functions can also have similarities and differences to their parent function. For example, if a parent function is y = x^2, its child function could be y = 2x^2 or y = x^2 + 3. These child functions still have the same shape as their parent function, but they're either stretched or moved around a little bit.

So you see, the parent function is like the starting point for all the other functions to build upon. It helps us understand and compare different types of functions. Cool, huh?
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