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Indirectly, it also teaches you about the number of pixels for standard film formats. The other day, I scribbled down a similar calculation, and it seems my calculation appears to be correct. If you assume 100 pixels per mm (which is their number) you arrive at 8.64 Megapixels (MP), 36 MP, 129 MP, and 516 MP for 35mm, 120, 4x5, and 8x10, respectively (if I haven't just mistyped the number in my pocket calculator). Thus, it's easy to see why even fairly cheap digital cameras can achieve 35mm quality easily, whereas 120 is still a bit of a stretch. The resolution achieved with large-format photography is still another league.
To make it really geeky, you'd have to factor in that many good films can resolve more than 100 pixels (or lines) per millimeter, which gives you another factor with which you have to multiply the sizes given above. Using some numbers I found online gives these as 1.0, 1.0, 1.44, 1.56, 2.56, 10.24, and a whooping 81.0 for Kodak's Tri-X 400, Kodachrome 64, Agfa Scala (200), Kodak's E100SW (E100G might have an even higher number - I couldn't find it), Fuji Velvia (50; 100 might be more), Kodak's (sadly discontinued) Technical Pan, and Gigabitfilm (25), respectively. Needless to say, you also have to have an excellent lens for this.
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