Mathematics is full of signs which are often used as metaphors by non-mathematicians.My husband, for example, used to say: The distance from zero to one is bigger than that from one to two.I fully agreed with him, realising what he meant.However, I refrained from saying that was why he could not learn maths at school.But it would be a good thing if maths teachers realised that some children live in rich worlds and find it hard to strip down to the bareness of mathematical signs and equations.
A student once told me she saw Zero with a lot of tiny numbers floating around it like butterflies which showed possibly great insight into infinitesimals but which would not aid her in learning Econometrics or any other such nonsensical stuff hich was her chosen destiny.
And the precision and clarity [up to a point] of mathematics does not do well when applied to broader issues as a “friend” kindly pointed out to me before being very rudeNow we mathematicians criticise each other’s methods but we are rarely rude as it does not aid the mind.And it’s in the mind we live.Which is not a good idea but maybe we went there as a safe place when life was too much to bear.
For life is much harder than Mathematics,as King Lear might have said.
How my heart sings 