ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Stereotype algebra

Stereotype algebra is a way to study groups of things that have certain qualities in common. Let's pretend we have a group of animals. We know that some of them are cats and some of them are dogs. We also know that all the cats are black and all the dogs are brown.

Now let's use stereotype algebra to understand this group of animals. We can say that the group is made up of two sets - the set of cats and the set of dogs. We can also say that the set of cats has one element in it, which is the color black. And the set of dogs has one element in it, which is the color brown.

Using stereotype algebra, we can also compare these two sets. We can say that the sets are disjoint, which means they don't overlap. There are no animals that are both a cat and a dog. We can also say that the sets are complementary, which means that all animals in the group are either a cat or a dog.

So, in the world of stereotype algebra, we can use sets and elements to understand groups of things that share common qualities. It's like putting them into different boxes and comparing the boxes to see what they have in common and what is different.