[mikea1]

In my limited math experience, I really found an appreciation of the number one. My favorite part of high school algebra was realizing that "solving for x" was often just a repeated exercise of multiplying each side of the equation by a "clever form of one."

[User3456335]

Solving for x often entails multiplying both sides by the same number, not necessarily one. Perhaps you're referring to simplifying fractions where you do often multiply by a clever form of one?

[mikea1]

Ah, yes, you are absolutely correct. The _clever form of one_ trick did not apply as often as I recalled!