I think the author misses the basis of innovation of notation: mathematicians are lazy. A simple exercise, often used to teach children, is to start without n

I think the author misses the basis of innovation of notation: mathematicians are lazy. A simple exercise, often used to teach children, is to start without notation. Do exercises like these (translated from Hungarian way of saying numerals): Write the questions the teacher speaks and give answers: "Two tens three plus one ten six equals?" Three tens nine. "Seven tens one plus two equals?" Seven tens three. ... Do about five of these. Children will ask if they can write less. Do a few more with comparisons ("is greater than or equal to"), simplifying equations ("is equivalent to"), lines of equations ("has the same solutions as") and children understand. These leads to fixing notation that causes errors: "6x3" can read like "6x times 3". Poor handwriting confuses "6' with "8". Pi is usually a less interesting number than 2*pi. Kinematics use all four corners of a letter, e.g., "joint x, in frame r, at time t, ..." There is space for better notation, or at least an appreciation of how it ends up where it does.