ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Time derivative

Imagine you are playing with a toy car and you want to know how fast it is going. You could measure its speed at one moment in time, but what if you want to know how its speed is changing over time? This is where the time derivative comes in.

The time derivative is like a special tool that helps us understand how things are changing over time. It helps us answer questions like: "How fast is an object moving?" or "How quickly is a number increasing?".

To understand the time derivative, think about a line graph. The graph shows how a value changes over time. For example, it could show how the temperature outside changes over the course of a day.

The time derivative helps us understand how steep the slope of the line is at any given point in time. Imagine a toy car is moving along a ramp. At one moment in time, the car might be going up the ramp slowly. But if we wait a few seconds, the car might be going up the ramp much faster. The time derivative helps us understand how the car's speed is changing over time.

In summary, the time derivative is a tool that helps us understand how things are changing over time. It helps us answer questions about speed, growth, and other changes that happen over time.