A couple of issues with your comparison: math is much more succinct than most code--it's more like a few pages of APL than a few pages of C++; also, code has to

A couple of issues with your comparison: math is much more succinct than most code--it's more like a few pages of APL than a few pages of C++; also, code has to deal with performance so elegant solutions tend to give way to complicated messes in the face of finite hardware and imperfect optimizing compilers. That said, you do have a good point. However, extreme complexity arising from a simple input is not that surprising--just look to the r pentomino in the game of life or the Mandelbrot set.