[djmips]

It's like saying that learning Arabic is the easy part of writing a great Saudi novel. True, but you have to understand that being literate is the price of admission. Clearly you consider yourself very facile with mathematical notation but you might have some empathy for the inumerate. Not everyone had the good fortune of great math teachers or even the luxury of attending a good school. I believe there is valid frustration borne out of poor mathematical education.

[karmakurtisaani]

Well yeah, but this empathy and frustration is simply misplaced. I have empathy for people who didn't get good education, and they should be frustrated towards their bad schooling. Math notation is simply the wrong target.

If they can't see that, it's hard to think they have much chance with the actual math. "A mathematician is a person who knows how to separate the relevant from the irrelevant", a saying I was told in school.

[djmips]

That's funny that you would bring up something you learned in school.