[shlurpy]

> Math notation is the way it is because it's what mathematicians have found useful for the purpose of doing and communicating math.

That's only really a good description for the most well trod areas, where people habe bothered to iterate. I think a more realistic statement would be:

"Math notation is the way it is because some mathematician found it sufficient to do and communicate math, and others found it tolerable enough to not bother to change."

Personally, though, my problem has always been where publications use letters and symbols to mean things that are just "known" in some subfield that isn't directly referenced. It's not a problem for direct back and forth communication during development, true, but it dramatically increases the burden on someone who wants to jump in.