Look at this position. At a glance, who's ahead? White or green? Hard to tell, right?
This is a fundamental problem in backgammon: evaluating who's leading. Unlike chess where you can count material, in backgammon checkers are scattered everywhere and it's hard to judge the situation at a glance.
Fortunately, there's a simple and powerful tool: the pip count. It's the first number every serious player learns to calculate.