Zero of a function

Okay kiddo, so imagine you have a toy car that you want to race down a ramp.

But the ramp has a bump in the middle that makes the car stop and not move anymore. That bump is like a zero of a function.

A zero of a function is a point where the function stops moving upwards (like the car on the ramp) and starts moving downwards. It's a point where the function changes signs from positive to negative or from negative to positive.

Think of it like a seesaw. If there are equal weights on both sides, the seesaw stays balanced. But if someone gets off or moves to one side, the seesaw goes down on that side.

Similarly, a zero of a function is like when the seesaw of the function goes down on one side, because the values around that point change from positive to negative or vice versa.

So, remember the toy car on the ramp? The zero of the function was the bump that stopped the car because it was no longer moving up the ramp but started moving down.

Now you know what a zero of a function is, and you can go back to playing with your toy cars!