I'd like to propose another habit: the habitual use of certain idioms that are present in mathematical reasoning, in reasoning about other problems. I'm thinki

I'd like to propose another habit: the habitual use of certain idioms that are present in mathematical reasoning, in reasoning about other problems. I'm thinking of constructs like - "if and only if", versus mere implication - TFAE, as in, the following are equivalent ways of establishing some property - Defining a relation, say R, between entities, and establishing properties about R, like transitivity. - Defining notations, labels and symbols for certain quantities or relationships within a problem. You typically first learn these idioms when doing proofs or reading lots of math and trying to summarize the ideas in it. Some of them are also aligned with the more abstract side of CS (unsurprisingly). Someone who has had a little experience with these habits can make a real contribution to clear thinking. How many times have you stood at a whiteboard discussion where people repeatedly talk about "the properties that this object inherits from its parent" (or similar) -- but without just inventing a notation for that thing?