I think what he's trying to convey necessitates such an introduction of mathematics. He's trying to convey the true nature of mathematics rather than the "appli

I think what he's trying to convey necessitates such an introduction of mathematics. He's trying to convey the true nature of mathematics rather than the "applied mathematics" most programmers/people are familiar with. Such an introduction requires conceptual and foundational understanding over a full blown computational application which will likely hinder understanding.