I used to be a physicist and I love math for the toolbox it provides (mostly Analysis). It allows to solve a physical model and make predictions. When I was st

I used to be a physicist and I love math for the toolbox it provides (mostly Analysis). It allows to solve a physical model and make predictions. When I was studying, I always got top marks in Analysis. Then came Algebra, Topology and similar nightmares. Oh crap, that was difficult. Not really because of the complexity, but rather because of abstraction, an abstraction I could not take to physics (I was not a very good physicist either). This is the moment I realized that I will never be "good in maths" and that will remain a toolbox to me. Fast forward 30 years, my son has differentials in high school (France, math was one of his "majors"). He comes to me to ask what the fuck it is (we have a unhealthy fascination for maths in France, and teach them the same was as in 1950). It is only when we went from physical models to differentials that it became clear. We did again the trip Newton did - physics rocks :)