[Bored chemist]

However the most extraordinary number theorist

... was quite possibly French.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89variste_Galois

[alancalverd]

Algebra, not number theory.

[Zer0]

Possibly Ramanujan was a Savant...
Who did not realise he was one.

Spitting out equations without understanding how, can also point towards possible conning or cheating.

I personally do not see culture or traditions playing any vital role in absorbing mathematics.

Ps - Yes, certain Rats do eventually form the capability of swimming.
But that is not due to their heroic courage or inner strength, it's just a side effect of causal over population burst on their island of birth.
(Lack of basic resources creates excessive competition in which only the most timid survive)

[Bored chemist]

Spitting out equations without understanding how

Is there any evidence of anyone doing that, or are you just trolling again?

[Bored chemist]

Algebra, not number theory.

Was  this a different M Évariste Galois?
https://bibbase.org/network/publication/galois-surlathoriedesnombres-1830
Sur la théorie des nombres. Galois, É. Bulletin des sciences mathématiques, physiques et chimiques, 13:428–435, 1830.

[Zer0]

Spitting out equations without understanding how

Is there any evidence of anyone doing that, or are you just trolling again?

You should Ideally pay a lil more Attention to the Subject in discussion...
I was referring to " Ramanujan ".

& I do not understand what exactly you meant by...
1) Am i Trolling?
2) Again?

Ps - perhaps it's time you finally learn to take things light, this is a Science Forum, Not a WarZone!
✌️
(chill)

[alancalverd]

Spitting out equations without understanding how, can also point towards possible conning or cheating.

Only if somebody else has published the proof, which nobody had.

[Zer0]

Spitting out equations without understanding how, can also point towards possible conning or cheating.

Only if somebody else has published the proof, which nobody had.

Agreed!
👍
I have Nothing personal against one of the youngest Fellows of the
 " Royal Society " or Trinity College.

But if Einstein came up with
E = mc(squared) & had no way of explaining how he derived it, & rather mentions it's from his
 " Goddess, who bleeds physics "...
What is a critical & logical thinker supposed to make out of it?

I only pointed towards a possibility of something fishy.
If tomorrow i come up with an out of the world beautiful equation, but cannot explain how i got there, except that some alien civilization put it inside my brain thru telepathy...what would You make of Me?

Ps - Perhaps misassuming that the Original Source was Someone Else isn't entirely invalid...bcoz i can Bet my Azz it surely wasn't the Goddess!
(_/*\_)

[alancalverd]

Maths often works backwards. Think of all the auxiliary functions that you would have learned at school if you'd stayed awake: 
"Multiply both sides by e^-bx"
"Why, sir?"
"Just do it and see what happens"
"Oh yes, it's differentiable!"

and then look up Wikipedia's list of favorite proofs where famous mathematicians have thrown some arbitrary auxiliary function into the mix without explanation, and abracadabra.....

A lot of maths is about leaning back from the problem and imagining what it looks like in 3D, or thinking of something vaguely like it that you have seen before. Did you ever ask a painter for his proof?

[Zer0]

I Think i get the Point you made here Sir!
👍
Only an Utter Fool would compare His " Lost Notebook " to the likes of the Voynich Manuscript.

Ps -

starry_night_full.jpg (424.18 kB . 1280x1014 - viewed 1193 times)

[yor_on]

Thanks BC, that made for a interesting read. It also makes me think of that Russian mathematician that refused that prize? We're all human. Ah ýes.  https://iq.opengenus.org/grigori-perelman/

[TommyJ]

It is a simple understanding. But after years of learning differences and similarities of school programs (Western and Russian mostly) and of the factors about being ‘technical’ or ‘humanitarian’ thinking to be distinguished in a high school I came to accept the next.
The subject here is for very young brains, right? In some brains, mathematics is built in the same way as knowledge of the native language. Up to senior school those who get the mathematics easily, are successful in physics and chemistry and even biology by translating other subjects to equations, diagrams etcetera. This is more about logic, might be. And some pupils who are brilliant in languages might be troubled in mathematics if they don't put much effort into it.
Regarding the school programs, they are pretty much the same, as I mentioned for Western and Russian knowledge. Might be a difference in load intensity, but the result after senior school is the same.
I would agree that culture or traditions are not  playing any vital role in absorbing mathematics. This opinion I could get from history and what I know from having Eastern acquaintance now.
There are a lot of differences, but when it comes to mathematics, everybody is on the same page.