What is E (Euler’s number)?

Euler’s number, E, is like a special friend that helps us understand how things grow or shrink over time.

Imagine you have a cookie jar, and every minute, it gets 10% bigger, not just adding cookies, but growing smoothly. If this keeps happening for a whole hour, the jar doesn’t just get a little bigger; it becomes much bigger! E helps us figure out exactly how big that cookie jar will be after a long time of growing like this.

The Magic of Continuous Growth

Now think about something you see every day, like your allowance. If you get 10% more each month, it's not the same as getting 10% all at once. E shows us how things grow smoothly over time, like water slowly filling up a glass.

If we keep growing by smaller and smaller amounts, like 1%, then 0.1%, then even less, and do that forever, E is the number we end up with. It's not magic; it’s just how things grow when they're always changing, bit by bit.

So next time you see something growing or shrinking slowly, remember E, your friendly helper in understanding growth!

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Examples

  1. Calculating how much money you'd have if you earned compound interest every second
  2. Seeing how bacteria grow in a petri dish
  3. Understanding why some things grow faster than others

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