The "fan out" is the number of devices that an output is attached to.

Thus, the AND gate

above is attached to the inputs of four other devices. It has a fan out of 4.
If the current coming out of the AND gate is i, then assuming each of the four devices
gets equal current, then each device gets i / 4 of the current.
However, if we put in a buffer:

then the current can be "boosted" back to the original strength. Thus, a buffer (like all
logic gates) is an active device. It requires additional inputs to power the gate, and
provide it voltage and current. You might wonder "Do I really need to know this? Isn’t
this just EE stuff?". That’s true, it is. The point of the discussion was to motivate the
existence of a plain buffer.
Truth table for a tri-state buffer

Enable
Input A Output
Input

false false hi-Z

false true hi-Z

true false false

true true true

A tri-state buffer is similar to a buffer, but it adds an additional "enable" input that
controls whether the primary input is passed to its output or not. If the "enable" inputs
signal is true, the tri-state buffer behaves like a normal buffer. If the "enable" input signal
is false, the tri-state buffer passes a high impedance (or hi-Z) signal, which effectively
disconnects its output from the circuit.
Tri-state buffers are often connected to a bus which allows multiple signals to travel
along the same connection.
The truth table for a tri-state buffer appears to the right.