I find the syntax of math very hard to parse (and I write and use parsers as part of my job). For people who "get" math, I agree it's very difficult to underst

I find the syntax of math very hard to parse (and I write and use parsers as part of my job). For people who "get" math, I agree it's very difficult to understand how another, obviously intelligent person can find math difficult to understand and use – especially someone who has put in substantial, sustained effort and has zero problems with the command line, programming, algorithms, parsers and just computer science in general. It doesn't make any sense. Except they do exist (I'm living proof). Frankly, I'm baffled by the problem. I've read numerous books on math, taken tons of courses, and spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why math, as a tool, is out of reach to me. Sure, I can apply the "rules" at a purely syntactic level, but a good example of where math-like thinking is needed as a tool is with a language like Haskell, which I also find completely opposed to how I think about and see the world. I wish I knew why, because I'd like to use it. :( So while I think the presentation is at least part of the problem, there's something about mathematics that needs to "click" before you can really make use of it, and that hasn't happened for me yet, despite literally _decades_ of trying. If anyone has pointers for books, I'll be checking back here for comments.