If you don’t understand the mechanisms of arithmetic, algebra is going to be a challenge. If you don’t understand algebra, lots of other things that are applicable to daily life and trades are also out.

I use geometry and trig for gardening. I do unit conversions (algebra) in cooking. I use simple probablilty in gaming.

All of this comes down to my ability to perform arithmetic operations on abstract symbols. A calculator can give me the numeric results, but it can’t help me manipulate the equation to get the answer I need.