> if you can think and communicate precisely enough to describe your ideas then you can enter them into a computer fairly easily in a language like python or ba

> if you can think and communicate precisely enough to describe your ideas then you can enter them into a computer fairly easily in a language like python or basic Try "thinking and communicating clearly and precisely" the process of multiplying two numbers larger than one thousand, in Roman numerals. For me, it was very difficult if I didn't cheat and implicitly convert everything in my head to normal (Hindu) numerals first. Now, try to do the same thing with Babylonian numerals (base-60). (I tried and gave up) What I'm trying to illustrate is that the tool you use to express an idea, imposes a hard limit on how "clearly and precisely" you can think about that idea in the first place. Hindu numerals are one tool (one notation) that make processes such as multiplication and division easy to express. If such tool wasn't invented, we'd be spending too much time 'thinking' and 'expressing' and 'teaching' multiplication, and be left with too little time to actually benefit from it.