ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Ring with the approximation property

Okay kiddo, so imagine you have a special type of ring, like the ones you wear on your finger, but this ring is special because it has something called the approximation property.

What this means is that if someone gives you a bunch of numbers, you can use this ring to get really close to those numbers using other numbers that are already in the ring. It's kind of like if someone gives you two apples and you want to get really close to having three apples, you can use one apple you already have and then just take a really small piece of another apple to get as close as possible to three apples.

So this ring is really good at getting as close as possible to other numbers, but it might not be able to get exactly the same as the numbers you were given. But that's okay, because the approximation is really close, and sometimes that's all that matters!
Related topics others have asked about: