Why do you think is mathematics necessary if someone likes to understand physics although mathematics itselve is 'only' a kind of philosophy and not a natural science on its own? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyJh0eP_AvU
I love math but hate philosophy I actually collected some math text books because of some interesting teaching methods. I've read a lot of history about mathematics. But philosophy -which was what René Descartes tried to do didn't work accept he did say... "I think therefore I am".. Which basically answered the question How do we know our sensory perception is a conscious state for man of our awareness and interpretation. Descartes also gave us the Cartesian coordinate system enabling us to see what our equations looked like in algebra.. The parabola.
