That's not an accurate explanation, since the Oberth effect also holds for a fictitious rocket that doesn't lose mass when it thrusts.

Well shit, I guess I'm in the same boat as Imnimo then.

Your fuel is measured in delta-V—the velocity you can accelerate by in an inercial reference frame—and kinetic energy scales with the square of your velocity.

Yes, Wikipedia offers a grokable example of increasing speed by 1 m/s:

> at 1 m/s, adding 1 m/s increases the kinetic energy from 1 J to 4 J, for a gain of 3 J;

> at 10 m/s, starting with a kinetic energy of 100 J, the rocket ends with 121 J, for a net gain of 21 J

Just take all the theorems about prime numbers, multiply them, and ... uh ...