Causal links build an existance of patterns that are a manifestation of the Universe's rational order. Reductionism is the belief that any complex set of phenomena can be defined or explained in terms of a relatively few simple or primitive ones. To a reductionist, once a set of equations or mathematical relations has been found to describe a system, then the behavior of the system is considered to be explained. Reductionism was widely accepted due to its power in prediction and formulation. The 20th century reaction against reductionism is relativism .
Modern science is somewhere in between.
Angular measure is used to denote apparent size, then deduce absolute size if distance to object is known. Exponents are powers of ten notation, a short-hand method of expressing very large and very small numbers. Exponents are useful in astronomy since we are dealing with numbers ranging from atomic scale to size of Solar System.