Indeed. I accidentally taught myself linear algebra through spending a ridiculous amount of time in excel. I only realized that after taking a linear algebra class and feeling helpless.. until I mentally remapped the concepts into excel space, after which it all became easy.

Could you give an example?

Sure. So back in an old finance job I was given a whole bunch of portfolio modeling spreadsheets that was a huge mess of ad hoc column so which drove me nuts so everything started with me learning how to use arrays, which significantly reduced the complexity of basic data transformations.

But then I wanted to analyze all our portfolio data over time so i had to figure out then how handle multi dimensionality in my spreadsheets. Then I figured out how to integrate and transform and reduce portfolio characteristics into sensible components for risk management and portfolio optimizations across different asset classes.

I figured out how to do some absolutely ridiculous stuff in excel, it’s tough for me to think of tools that scratch the surface me if l that is nearly as good at helping working through