That is The.Best description of numbers I have ever heard. Math used to be meaningless to me until I discovered the joy of the word problem. Suddenly things made sense and I no longer failed every test!

I have never understood people who can memorize equations...

Here's a funny story about a Russian who contradicts the paradigm: my professor, Igor Vaysman, was on leave and I needed something I was certain he had. His best friend let me into his office to find it but we couldn't produce the coveted article. I emailed him, confessing what we had done, and he said (and I quote from memory): "It is in a unmarked leather binding -- blue, green or maroon."


I looked at Michael and said, yeah that really narrows it down.

ALL of the tomes in his office were in unmarked leather binding -- blue, green, or maroon.