[007FG2]

Look i understand your point but try to see it this way, that picture of the triangle above, the top line say its 10 inches and the bottom one is 5 (just making up numbers) at first you have to **** 10 inches from in 1st gear to 2nd gear, you shortened the shifter and now its only 5 inches from 1st to 2nd, the length of the shift is shorter thus = shorter shifting from 1st to 2nd.

True, the angle will always be the same 10degrees or whatever it is, the angle will never change, the only change is the length of the sides of the triangle (from the bottom vertex)

Not so easy to explain, do the opposite make it longer, add some sort of a shifter extender like a feet or two to the shifter to make it longer and shift from 1st to 2nd, you will see its a longer distance to cover from point a to b