system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How does something like a complex theoretical equation get turned into a real world application?

This is such a brain-smoother for me that I don't even know how to really easily word the question, so I'll try to give an example of what I mean:

In some books I've read in the past, there have been things where they've said stuff along the lines of "If we figure out the necessary equation, we could potentially fold space for faster than light travel."

So, let's say you have your equation, and its principles are sound - how do you then USE this to actually do something? How does it take the jump from theoretical to practical?
gpt
>real world application?

Let's... Use a real world application as an example, rather than FTL travel. 

Let's say you want to build a wall, and to prevent it from falling over you want it to be vertical. 

If there isn't any wind, you can hang something heavy from a string to show you what vertical is, but if you'd like to be able to work on windy days you'll need a guy named Pythagoras to come up with a handy equation for how to put together three pieces of wood in a way that makes sure the angle between two of them is always *exactly* 90°, as long as you know how long each piece of wood is relative to the two other. 

All you have to do to turn it into a real world application is a bit of measuring, cutting, and arithmetic.

Or let's say Pythagoras figured that out thousands of years ago and now you'd like to know where you are even if you're lost in a place without streetsigns (such as the middle of the ocean). 

You have the technology to put radio transmitters in space, but just using the triangulation that Pythagoras figured out and other people refined *doesn't work* until some guy named Snell figures out how to predict how fast light moves in various mediums, and some guy named Einstein figures out how fast *time* moves at different accelerations and velocities. 

All you have to do is fit a battery powered supercomputer in your pocket that can do billions of calculations per second, launch a bunch of satellites, build insanely accurate clocks, and BAM just like that you've turned thousands of years of mathematics into a real world GPS system.