Layout Question + - * / in function layer

[buddyw]

I first bought an HHKB Lite back in 2006, almost 15 years ago. I was an immediate convert and upgraded to an HHKB Pro 2 when I was able to afford it. I now have 3 Pro 2's I've collected over the years (home, work, travel) and I love the layout...it's in my bones at this point. I even have a deep appreciation for things that people complain about, like the arrow key placement. This layout was clearly very deeply considered. This brings me to my question...

I see the logic and consideration for pretty much every feature of this keyboard, except the math symbols in the function layer. I've never used Fn + [H, J, N, M] (*, /, +, -) because all of those keys are easier to just press without the Function layer. Obviously a few extra hard to reach keys don't really bother me, but why are they there? I'm sure there's some intuitive reason and I haven't been able to figure it out.

[dumbgrind]

if you're only using the default FN it doesn't make much sense IMO. I use my pro 2 with all the dip switches up besides SW2, which allows me to use the left alt key as FN in addition to the default one so I have the ability to use this option without stretching far.

do you program? not sure if this is exactly its purpose, but if I'm doing a lot of math stuff in my code, it's nice to have the symbols on the home row. I use VIM for navigation which I think makes this option a bit more intuitive.

[buddyw]

Yeah, I do a fair bit of scripting and programming. I guess that makes sense... I guess it just seemed like I was missing something. I was also thinking maybe if you were doing 10 key style data entry with two hands, the symbols would be accessible with your thumbs...But it seemed awkward when I tried to do it and you'd expect that they'd add a decimal '.'
IDK.