The softmax function is a mathematical way of turning numbers into probabilities. It takes in a bunch of numbers, and then squishes them down into a range from 0 to 1 so that they add up to 1. It's like batter in a cake pan - if you pour too much, the batter will be all over the place, but if you pour the right amount, it will spread evenly throughout the pan and make one big cake! Softmax does something similar with numbers, so that all the probabilities add up to 1.