What if instead of using the mean to describe central tendency we just added up all of the values in the sample and then divided that total by the number of sample values.

What if instead of linear regression we just drew a line through a scatterplot of points in a way that passed through the means of both variables and minimized the sum of squared deviations of points from the mean of the y-axis variable.

What if instead of insertion sort we just iterated through the array of elements, removed each one to a temporary variable, and the reinserted it at its correct position in the sorted portion of the array.

What if instead of a recursive algorithm we just created a function that correctly returns the desired output for a base case and otherwise calls itself for every element until it reaches that case.

What if instead of standardizing on ISO-8601 date representations we just agreed to all write dates like YYYY-MM-DD where YYYY is a four-digit year, MM is a two-digit month, and DD is a two digit day.

What if instead of Arabic numerals we just used the following symbols to represent specific numbers:
0 means zero
1 means one
2 means two
3 means three
4 means four
5 means five
6 means six
7 means seven
8 means eight
9 means nine
that enable us to write large numbers efficiently