Hear, hear! I think this problem is also beautifully put by the Knuth in Surreal Numbers. Results are boiled down to the smallest possible representation, witho

Hear, hear! I think this problem is also beautifully put by the Knuth in Surreal Numbers. Results are boiled down to the smallest possible representation, without giving a historical/pedagogical overview, or even the slightest hint about how the author himself also struggled with the material. This also boils down to what you understand the word "elementary" to mean. It is definitely not synonymous to "simple", rather as Feynman put it, "only requiring an infinite intelligence to understand".