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So spending say 5 years, noodling around with abstract mental concepts and ending with symbols that turn out to be manipulatable and useful in a mathematical wa

So spending say 5 years, noodling around with abstract mental concepts and ending with symbols that turn out to be manipulatable and useful in a mathematical way means, you haven’t done math until year 6 starts? I’m trying to see the line as clearly drawn as your comment suggests. The exact boundary doesn’t seem as simple as, stops here / starts here.

lisper 5y ago
> So spending say 5 years, noodling around with abstract mental concepts and ending with symbols that turn out to be manipulatable and useful in a mathematical way means, you haven’t done math until year 6 starts? Yes, that's right. Until you write down the symbols you quite literally haven't done the math.