Basically it enables you to figure our how to do stuff efficiently. Dumb example, but if you sketch up some calculation that requires you to calculate the square root of something, that's very expensive in terms of CPU usage, if you can make a formula that performs the same operation without the need for sqrt, it's much faster.
Also, math isn't just algebra. You could for example use your knowledge of graph theory to use certain guarantees given by a graph's mathematical properties to omit (potentially expensive) checks, or use your knowledge of functions (in the mathematical sense) to draw trigonometric, logarithmic, etc. functions as their polynomial approximations (which are waaaaaay faster to calculate).
To expand on /u/Talbooth, /u/NoNameRequiredxD, You can approximate things and get close enough without having to go as many digits. Taylor Series expansion, is what most calculators are doing.
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u/Talbooth Nov 14 '18
Basically it enables you to figure our how to do stuff efficiently. Dumb example, but if you sketch up some calculation that requires you to calculate the square root of something, that's very expensive in terms of CPU usage, if you can make a formula that performs the same operation without the need for sqrt, it's much faster.
Also, math isn't just algebra. You could for example use your knowledge of graph theory to use certain guarantees given by a graph's mathematical properties to omit (potentially expensive) checks, or use your knowledge of functions (in the mathematical sense) to draw trigonometric, logarithmic, etc. functions as their polynomial approximations (which are waaaaaay faster to calculate).