This is the beguiling thing about mathematics: it is right there on the page in front of you, yet often so far from your grasp. How could a statement said so si

This is the beguiling thing about mathematics: it is right there on the page in front of you, yet often so far from your grasp. How could a statement said so simply as "a^n + b^n = c^n has no solutions for n > 2" be so difficult to reason about? This duality of having something and not having it is something I've only experienced in mathematics and bad relationships. It's not about understanding the notation, as others have said, it's about understanding the principles expressed by the notation. You may learn the grammar of a language, but that is a far journey from understanding its poetry, which is full of norms and views beyond what is captured by its grammar.