Det här är troligtvis " Känslan av kraft " Av Isaac Asimov, som föreslagits i [detta ögonöppnande svar ] av Valorum.
Tanken att mänskligheten kämpar med enkel aritmetik är tydlig
"Aub! How much is nine times seven?" Aub hesitated a moment. His pale eyes glimmered with a feeble anxiety. "Sixty-three," he said. Congressman Brant lifted his eyebrows. "Is that right?" "Check it for yourself, Congressman."
Valorum's answer to: Story about a mathematics discovery that would allow people to replace computers in missiles
och "dronorna" som faktiskt är missiler som för närvarande är på auto-pilot ersätts av mänskliga piloter.
The general drove on. "At the present time our chief bottleneck is the fact that missiles are limited in intelligence. The computer controlling them can only be so large, and for that reason they can meet the changing nature of anti-missile defenses in an unsatisfactory way. Few missiles, if any, accomplish their goal, and missile warfare is coming to a dead end, for the enemy, fortunately, as well as for ourselves.
"On the other hand, a missile with a man or two within, controlling flight by graphitics, would be lighter, more mobile, more intelligent. It would give us a lead that might well mean the margin of victory.
ibid.
Den här historien publicerades i If (som User14111 säger) och kan läsas online här .