The author seems to write from the perspective of an undergraduate whose main exposure is limited to lecture notes and handouts. I find that most pedagogical m

The author seems to write from the perspective of an undergraduate whose main exposure is limited to lecture notes and handouts. I find that most pedagogical mathematical literature actually do lay out what prerequisite knowledge they expect of the reader, and make sure to identify the exact nature of symbols used in each expression, contrary to the experience of the author. Mathematics today is still very much prose, in which equations are shorthand for common, repetitive expressions. Nevertheless, the ambiguity the author observes is something I commonly find in lecture notes, where the prose and context around certain theorems and equations are stripped away for brevity.