Working in theoretical physics (quantum computing) I think about this a lot: the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics. I see two ways of understanding this. (1) That mathematicians are in the game of building powerful tools, and therefore these tools inherently capture a wide range of phenomena. (2) When confronted with a difficult problem we become the drunk person looking for their keys under the street light, even if we know the keys are elsewhere. In this case, the street light is whatever good calculations we have at hand, ie. mathematics.