[gowld]

> Wait, is linear algebra really just about heaps of multiplication and addition?

That's just one of dozens of things LA is "about"

> why the hell couldn't my textbooks explain it in these terms on page 1

Because you wouldn't have understood terms like

> orthonormal

and because it would have been unhelpful to everyone else who want in LA for the exact same reason you were.

Being obviously in retrospect doesn't mean it was obvious in forespect. You had to learn the material first.