The answer to a lot of the reasons why people don’t use math in real life (especially the kind of problems posed in the OP) is because people don’t learn mental

The answer to a lot of the reasons why people don’t use math in real life (especially the kind of problems posed in the OP) is because people don’t learn mental math. You’re not walking around with a calculator or a pen and paper all the time. You will use math in your day to day life if you can do the math in your head. We need to spend a lot more time in schools teaching children how to do math entirely in their heads. Not only will this apply far more directly to how they would use it in the future, it will also help them understand mathematical concepts a lot better.