ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Permutation category

Okay kiddo, so in math there's this thing called a permutation which means changing the order of things. For example, let's say you have three toy cars and you want to change the order in which they're lined up. First, you can put the red car in front, then the blue one, and then the green one. Or you can put the green one first, then the red one, and then the blue one. See, you changed the order!

Now, a permutation category is like a group of different ways you can change the order of things. But not just any things, it's a special kind of things called objects. It's like a club where all the members are objects and they like to have their order changed in different ways.

In permutation category, you can change the order of the objects by swapping them around or leaving some of them in place. It's like playing musical chairs with objects, except no one is eliminated and there's no music.

This idea of permutation category is used a lot in algebra and geometry to help us understand symmetry, which basically means things that look the same when you change their order. It's a really cool concept and helps us solve lots of problems!