Agreed. Math in particular is an area where mentorship matters a lot. Pretty tautologically, math relies on correctness, and correctness can be tricky to grok o

Agreed. Math in particular is an area where mentorship matters a lot. Pretty tautologically, math relies on correctness, and correctness can be tricky to grok on your own. On the other hand, if you're trying to paint, make music, or write a story, there's a much larger margin for error and subjectivity, and it's easier to intuit when something feels wrong. There's a reason we talk about amateur mathematician cranks and not amateur pianist cranks.