I think there are 3 fundamental issues that are coming together. The first is a discounting of the fact that programming and using Excel are in their own way doing higher level math. You're not doing the lower level grunt work but combining those techniques to do something greater. The second being that many problems aren't about mathematical truth so much as mop and bucket work. Designing your process for off hours communication isn't going to simplify into an elegant equation. However being really good at that sort of thing is important. The final thing is most people are lousy at recounting what they did/do. So it maybe that a significant number of people do use advanced math < 1% of the time but don't actually remember it.