Don't get me wrong here, I get what you're saying, but: In practice a beginner would figure out you can't just 'silently' add Integrals and Fractionals by check

Don't get me wrong here, I get what you're saying, but: In practice a beginner would figure out you can't just 'silently' add Integrals and Fractionals by checking the types with the ":t" command Prelude> :t (div 6 2) (div 6 2) :: Integral a => a Prelude> :t 1.0 1.0 :: Fractional t => t Bonus: there is a language extension which does you do this: https://www.schoolofhaskell.com/school/to-infinity-and-beyond/pick-of-the-week/guide-to-ghc-extensions/basic-syntax-extensions#numdecimals https://www.schoolofhaskell.com/school/to-infinity-and-beyon... If your point was that the error messages could be nicer, I agree.