Yes, for the sake of what we were talking about it absolutely is. Knowing the exact formula can just help identifying how the system fails, it’s not necessary to be aware that a complete failure is happening.
It’s like we were talking about a decapitated corpse in an obituary and you insisted that a detailed police report of what happened to it was necessary to establish if it was dead or alive.
Man... a doctor is needed to declare death for a reason. Because he studied to know that and have the abilities and knowledge about the inner functions of the human body needed to be sure the guy is really dead.
You do not need a doctor to tell you that a body that is lacking a head is dead. It is absurd to insist you need a specialist in every case.