/aside As someone who's also refreshing maths: What's the point of investing in studying hard, if I end up forgetting? Is there some aspect of maths I should fo

/aside As someone who's also refreshing maths: What's the point of investing in studying hard, if I end up forgetting? Is there some aspect of maths I should focus on, that is an enduring investment? My feelings is that getting an intuitive understanding is key, so that it becomes part of myself... but I find proofs don't give me this (they show me that it is true, but not why it is that it is true - if that makes sense). Derivations seem important, because then I can re-derive when I forget (though, I must recall the "tricks" of the derivation, and also know the operations used). General skills can persist, if they get ongoing exercise (e.g. methodicalness, care with definitions, close reading, organization to cope with complex and multi-layered problems). Finally - and awfully - I now think mathematics is like a language, not so much in the sense of communication, but by being full of special cases, exceptions, "abuse of notation". Becoming fluent in a language takes much practice, and may be impossible without special talent. But once achieved, is never fully forgotten, and quickly regained.