I think (or rather: I hope) that no one takes the mathematical equations literally. But for the mathematically inclined, the intuition is the following:
“a+b” means substitutes; if you do more of one, it is okay to do less of the other; which implies that you should focus on the one that happens to be cheaper (e.g. in time and energy) at the moment
“a*b” means that both are necessary; if you do one without the other, you are just wasting time; which implies that you should probably focus on the smaller one, because there you can probably achieve a greater improvement measured in percents (diminishing returns; beginners learn quickly)
From the perspective of physics, “a+b” means that they are the same unit, for example a resource obtained one way, and the same resource obtained a different way; while “a*b” usually means different units, often something like “X” and “Y per unit of X”, for example how many resources you have, and how efficiently you can convert those resources to the result you want.
I think (or rather: I hope) that no one takes the mathematical equations literally. But for the mathematically inclined, the intuition is the following:
“a+b” means substitutes; if you do more of one, it is okay to do less of the other; which implies that you should focus on the one that happens to be cheaper (e.g. in time and energy) at the moment
“a*b” means that both are necessary; if you do one without the other, you are just wasting time; which implies that you should probably focus on the smaller one, because there you can probably achieve a greater improvement measured in percents (diminishing returns; beginners learn quickly)
From the perspective of physics, “a+b” means that they are the same unit, for example a resource obtained one way, and the same resource obtained a different way; while “a*b” usually means different units, often something like “X” and “Y per unit of X”, for example how many resources you have, and how efficiently you can convert those resources to the result you want.