Rectifier (neural networks)

A rectifier is a funny name for a special kind of math problem solvers. They help computer brains solve difficult problems faster.

Imagine you have a bunch of friends and you want to know who is taller than you. You could write all their heights on a piece of paper, and then circle the ones taller than you. This is what a rectifier does for computer brains.

A computer's "friend" is a number. It might be a big number, a small number, or even zero. When a computer brain tries to solve a problem, it does some math with these numbers.

Sometimes, the answer is a negative number. This is like saying your friend is shorter than you. But this can be a problem when the brain only works with positive numbers. It's like trying to circle a height that's less than zero.

This is where the rectifier comes in. It looks at the answer the brain got, and if it's negative, it just says "zero". This makes the computer brain happy, because it only has to think about positive numbers. It's like only looking at the heights of the friends that are taller than you.

So, a rectifier is just a helper for computer brains that wants to find the positive in every math problem.