[mrkeen]

The further I got into maths (not very far mind you, but I think I at least did a few differential equations,) the more it felt that maths really was just a bag of tricks, moreso at the advanced end.

* Keep deriving circular functions until they cancel out. * Completing the square * Use the quadratic formula to solve degree-2 polynomials ... No formula for degree-5 or higher. * Use the Laplace transform here... for reasons...

[ducttapecrown]

Many famous mathematicians have quotes along the lines of "it's not the result that mattered here, it's the new method/trick that is cool!" and essentially it's because solving math problems requires a bag of tricks and a new one can open new doors in every field it hasn't been applied to yet.