> What's to keep me from simply saying "I understand this and its correct" even if that is not the case? Then you should be able to have intelligent discussion

> What's to keep me from simply saying "I understand this and its correct" even if that is not the case? Then you should be able to have intelligent discussions about the paper and answer questions that come up. If you're pretending to understand it, a quick 5-minute discussion with a mathematician would reveal that this is not the case.