I’m a mechanical engineer by training, I do math in my head as much as by calculator. You need to know whether the numbers you generate have any semblance to reality.
Exactly. What older engineers are able to do is have an “instant BS detector.” When someone in public policy whips out some idiotic number or estimate, guys like you and I who come from the older school of “back-of-the-envelope” estimation can yell “bullcrap!” (or words to that effect) before the clown finishes his sentence.
There’s no shortage of people who are so innumerate that they will believe ANYTHING they are told - no matter how mathematically absurd it is.
In the midst of this financial charlie-foxtrot, want to become depressed? Go on a street corner and ask people “how many millions in a trillion?”
It’s amazing, I tell you.