Look, I get it when it comes to showing work...but teachers get you to show work in many cases so they can see if you were on the right track and identify exact

Look, I get it when it comes to showing work...but teachers get you to show work in many cases so they can see if you were on the right track and identify exactly where you went wrong. When you show your work, they can give you partial credit instead of marking the entire thing incorrect if you are wrong. The other benefit of it is that it prevents people from trying to rely on calculators (if available) to ensure that the students knows how to work through the multiple steps of the problem. When it comes to math applications in life, estimates are great for forecasting, quick budgeting and several other things. Career wise though, anything to do with financials or engineering is never going to be okay with the answer in your head being in the ballpark. It's a great skill that you have, no doubt, but in order to teach and ensure the students are learning how to work through a problem the teacher needs to see the steps that they are going through to get there.