[dmak]

That's kind of what I mean. It's just a mechanical equation and that's how I understand it. They are all ratios, but is that all it is? what insight can I get from that and why do I care about its application in the workforce? when would I ever need such functions? etc...

[mixmastamyk]

They are very useful when building things properly—a corner stone of civilization if you will.

Precomputed values in a book made things an order of magnitude easier at the job site or battlefield before computers.

Depends what you do for a living. Artists won’t. Civil engineers and artillery software programmers will every day.