[nerdponx]

I had no idea he did all his work on a big slate. His working memory must have been astoundingly good.

[tshanmu]

Maybe thats what made him what he was - working in an ephemeral medium forcing his working memory to adapt in ways that are conducive to doing mathematics?

For a comparison on the other end our spatial memory structures in the brain have changed since widespread use of gps/mapping apps, apparently.

[linspace]

Short term memory is very important for problem solving. Euler continued to work and publish mathematics after becoming blind