Just in case Those-That-Know come and have a look, these questions may put them off. I hope not, but they are the kinds of questions we Dummies have. Probably the questions that kept me out of the really good schools, too. But heck, I'm gonna ask them. Maybe other readers will be like: "hey, you know, I was wondering that exact same thing!"

One of the first questions I had when I first saw a math node used in the Poser room was: why? What is the purpose of doing math on a colour? Why not just change a colour manually?
We know that adding 1, 0, 0 (Red) and 0, 1, 0 (Green) gives us 1, 1, 0 (Yellow). Is it really all that useful to be able to do it with nodes? That question vividly illustrates the depth of my ignorance of what can be done with nodes, but only because I haven't gotten to a point where I need to be able to manage a colour with a means other than manually.

When I was learning Visual Basic, there was a lag time between noting a function exists and saying: "whoa, that would be perfect here!". It's only as one starts to have specific needs does the strength of nodes become clear.

It has been suggested by Those-That-Know that experimentation in the material room with nodes is a key means of clarifying in the mind what does what and how (and hopefully, one can even postulate some whys). The above-mentioned needs will arise, so experiment we shall.

Monterey/Mint21.x/Win10 - Blender3.x - PP11.3(cm) - Musescore3.6.2

Wir sind gewohnt, daß die Menschen verhöhnen was sie nicht verstehen
[it is clear that humans have contempt for that which they do not understand] 

Metaphor of Chooks