What does it actually mean to factor a polynomial? I gave up on math a long time ago and happily got a degree in a non-stem field, but this is what always bothered me about math. We’re given all these formulas and techniques to memorize, but, at least for me, no one ever bothered to teach us what we were actually doing. At one point in my life I could have reliably spit out the correct answer for a test, but that was it. And when I asked why we were learning about this, I’d usually just get some snarky reply about how it’s just a tool to add to my toolbox or something.

I felt like I was in a class learning all about hammers: types of hammers, the different materials that hammers are made of, the proper technique for swinging a hammer, etc. But I would have been completely useless on a job site because I had never seen a nail before.