Before the electronic calculators, “computer” was a career. Much like today, the scientists and engineers would write out the equations that need to be solved, but then pass the work to a “computer” to plug in actual numbers. The difference is modern computers are electronic and historic computers were humans who did arithmetic as a career.
But those scientists and engineers still knew how to do math, even if they were offloading that work most of the time. The point being, it’s still important to learn how to do math, even if you won’t be the one actually doing it most of the time, and this has been true for hundreds of years, well before electronic calculators and computers.
Before the electronic calculators, “computer” was a career. Much like today, the scientists and engineers would write out the equations that need to be solved, but then pass the work to a “computer” to plug in actual numbers. The difference is modern computers are electronic and historic computers were humans who did arithmetic as a career.
Here’s the relevant Wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_(occupation)
But those scientists and engineers still knew how to do math, even if they were offloading that work most of the time. The point being, it’s still important to learn how to do math, even if you won’t be the one actually doing it most of the time, and this has been true for hundreds of years, well before electronic calculators and computers.