> statistics, percentages, and compound interest, those are things people would do better to know
They do teach those in middle school before they teach trigonometry, so that is already covered.
> And yet, outside my hobbies of "being a massive nerd", I've not needed the maths of trigonometry for at least a decade.
Lots of people craft things or work with schematics in some way, not just highly educated people, to them having the basics around angles is often very useful. People like mechanics, carpenters etc, that sort of math is useful to solve so many basic everyday problems in more handy jobs.
They do teach those in middle school before they teach trigonometry, so that is already covered.
> And yet, outside my hobbies of "being a massive nerd", I've not needed the maths of trigonometry for at least a decade.
Lots of people craft things or work with schematics in some way, not just highly educated people, to them having the basics around angles is often very useful. People like mechanics, carpenters etc, that sort of math is useful to solve so many basic everyday problems in more handy jobs.