That's a good question. Historic human societies without algebra somehow had working bean counting.
Using a credit card isn't very abstract.
You only have to use the concrete specific values in your situation, and not solve some generality.
Moreover, I don't think I had to ever square anything, let alone, cube, when reckoning over credit card transactions. Or find the roots of a polynomial, or do anything with polynomials.
I'm not saying that the intuitions gained from algebra are not relevant, mind you.
Using a credit card isn't very abstract.
You only have to use the concrete specific values in your situation, and not solve some generality.
Moreover, I don't think I had to ever square anything, let alone, cube, when reckoning over credit card transactions. Or find the roots of a polynomial, or do anything with polynomials.
I'm not saying that the intuitions gained from algebra are not relevant, mind you.