> Don't think algebra or exponential growth matter? I think these concepts are critical to basic citizenship. Real understanding of exponential growth helps you understand viscerally why, for instance, you should nip a viral outbreak in the bud, and reducing the spreadrate even slightly (R0) can make a huge impact later on, even if spread isn't totally stopped. This is all just gibberish if not learned in high school.

Indeed. I remember talking to a doctor who worked in the ER when the first wave of COVID (brutal in my country) was brewing. She said that it wouldn't be a big deal, they had like 50% of beds vacant (or something like that) so they would be able to handle it just fine. I said that by looking at the data, I thought they would run out of beds next week. Her expression was dismissive, like "this guy doesn't work in healthcare, hasn't set foot in an ER, what does he know?"

The next week, ERs were overloaded, of course. It was in plain sight from the straight line in log-scale graphs. But for most people (including most doctors) the interpretation was (and still is) "wow, this virus is rough, it comes in sudden waves out of nowhere!". Just because they don't understand exponential growth.