It was probably much better that you did it on your own when you felt like it. My art students tell me that rote learning is what put them off math. I'd rather we found ways to keep those people interested.https://twitter.com/davidmanheim/status/1028945037550407680 …
Historically, most mathematicians have learned arithmetic not by memorizing multiplication tables but by extensive self-directed investigation of numbers as experimental data. Which numbers arise as divisors of sums of two square numbers? One way to find out: do the experiment.
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Historically, most mathematicians had solid fundamental rote training in schools stricter and less forgiving than any you'll see today, and then they supplemented that education with "extensive self-directed investigation of numbers."
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Mathematics education in the schools is a relatively recent phenomenon. Neither Euler nor Lagrange experienced any of it.
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