steve,
vlad's example of the 'add' component fits with all of the math components. for each channel it takes the value of any given pixel and adds that to the value of another corresponding pixel from another source and does that for all of the pixels in the source input.
in other words, whatever you plug into node A, each pixel will be added to whatever you plug into node B and output that result to the output node. it's really quite simple.
so, the only other part that might be confusing is the math function itself. for instance, i have no idea what a cosine does, but i do know it's taking the pixels from source A and doing that function to the pixels at source B.
clear as mud, ay?
If wishes were horses... there'd be a whole lot of horse crap to clean up!
Craig