<p>I've been trying to get into F# on and off for a while but I keep getting put off.  Why?</p>

<p>Because no matter which 'beginners' resource I try to look at I see very simple examples that start using the operator <code>-&gt;</code>.</p>

<p>However, nowhere have I found as yet that provides a clear simple explanation of what this operator means.  It's as though it must be so obvious that it doesn't need explanation even to complete newbies.</p>

<p>I must therefore be really dense or perhaps it's nearly 3 decades of previous experience holding me back.</p>

<p>Can someone please, explain it or point to a truly accessible resource that explains it?</p>

It basically means "maps to". Read it that way or as "is transformed into" or something like that.
So, from the
F# in 20 minutes
tutorial,
```
```
> List.map (fun x -> x % 2 = 0) [1 .. 10];;
val it : bool list
= [false; true; false; true; false; true; false; true; false; true]
```
```
The code (fun i -> i % 2 = 0) defines
  an anonymous function, called a lambda
  expression, that has a parameter x and
  the function returns the result of "x
  % 2 = 0", which is whether or not x is
  even.