If I write "water is wet", I'm referring to the matter known as water, not the symbols that make up the English word "water". Likewise, in this conversation, 1

If I write "water is wet", I'm referring to the matter known as water, not the symbols that make up the English word "water". Likewise, in this conversation, 1+1=2 is saying that if you take the idea represented by the symbol 1 and then add it to itself, the result is the idea represented by the symbol 2. The ideas behind words and the words themselves are not equivalent.