> The original paragraph form is probably easier for someone unfamiliar with anything beyond arithmetic Isn't this because of the fact that at the time (628 AD

> The original paragraph form is probably easier for someone unfamiliar with anything beyond arithmetic Isn't this because of the fact that at the time (628 AD as you say) there wasn't that much to be familiar with beyond arithmetic? (I don't really know the history of maths, just curious.) > and hold more of the proof in your head at a time Is it really the case? I mean that no matter with which notation you start with, you need to parse and evaluate it mentally to convert it into terms you actually think with. I can see that for maths 'natives' it is helpful, because their mental models are very closely tied to the formal notation. But for me mathematics is a foreign language, it seems that I think in slightly different terms and this succinct notation makes it harder for me to actually understand what it is really about. (I don't mean your example specifically - it's still well inside my comfort zone). As a programmer I do struggle for "math literacy" because I have to. I need to be able to read proofs, understand some concepts to be able to use them and to know when I need them. The problem is it's not natural for me. Yesterday I found here on HN a book that just may be exactly what I'm looking for: http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html http://greenteapress.com/thinkstats/html/index.html (didn't have time to read it yet, but it looks promising). > who invest the time to learn the notation I think I said it before but maybe it's worth noting explicitly. I am somewhat familiar with the notation, I consider myself 'literate'. But I'm far from fluent and I probably never will be. Similarly, I can read and write cyrillic script (with pen and paper). But it takes me more than twice the time to read russian in cyrillic than reading the same text written with latin letters. I don't need someone to translate russian to english for me. It's just the character set that is a problem. I think it's very similar to what I experience with math.