[yesenadam]

Well, it does seem to me fair to say that "it is trivial primary school arithmetic". But I guess the truth of whether it is or it isn't trivial, isn't really something that can be scientifically tested – it rests on how exactly you define "trivial", what you count as the involved operations etc. Well, we could go further into it if we wanted (e.g. What are these "lots of algebraic techniques" involved in these 2 little steps?!) but having asserted our rivals claims without much evidence feels like a good place to stop – this time. :-)

Edit: Or I suppose "tabooing"[0] the word trivial would have helped – it was the trouble-maker.

[0] https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/WBdvyyHLdxZSAMmoz/taboo-your...