ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Parts-per notation

Imagine you have a big jar of lemonade, but you want to know how much sugar is in it. The jar is so big that you can't just count the sugar cubes, and the sugar is mixed in with the lemonade, so you can't just measure it in grams or ounces.

Instead, you can use parts-per notation. This means that you divide the total amount of the mixture into equal parts, and then you figure out how many of those parts are sugar.

For example, if you divide the mixture into 1,000 equal parts, and there are 5 parts that are sugar, you would write this as 5 parts per 1,000. This is the same as 5/1000, or 0.005.

Parts-per notation can be used for all sorts of things, like measuring pollution in the air or water, or measuring the strength of a chemical solution. It's a way to express how much of one thing is in relation to the total amount of everything else.