[MattPalmer1086]

It's interesting you say that math is blindly following steps. I have the opposite experience, that math is an exploration of concepts and how they relate to each other - much like programming!

Blindly following steps, whether in math, programming or anything else, does indeed sound unrewarding.

[_istanbul_]

That's exactly my thought. "Blindly" following steps in Math or programming is rewarding only when used to solve bigger problems, to sort of free up working memory.