True, but math isn't something that really goes anywhere.
Sure? People are ripped off daily because they fail at simple math. Take advertising like "now 10% bigger". People assume they get 10% more in weight, while it could mean the manufacturer managed to increase the volume by blowing in more air. Or people who end up in deep debt, because they can't figure out what they signed.
I recently met a nurse. She gave the usual spiel of "oh, I suck at math" when I mentioned that I now had 60% of my five required doctor appointments done. Blank stare ... Oh great, I like it when medicine is mixed the wrong way, because a nurse can't do simple math.
But we can take another subject, languages. Except if you are an American, who don't believe in a second or third language, languages are a useful thing. But still many people suck at it after years of foreign language education at school.
It's needed for problems but it really doesn't do anything
Oh, it keeps your wallet thick and helps you don't get killed by a blond nurse.
Programming allows people to produce things which make their lives easier.
And math helps to keep people alive.
So many times i see people in data-entry like jobs doing repetitive keyboard takes when they could write a simple program to do it with only a small amount of programming knowledge.
Most of them can not, because they lack the talent for programming. And there is a surprising thing. People, especially GUI users, want it that way. It gives them a sense of achievement when they click themselves silly.