Math is about creating ideas

Like art, the purpose of math is the creation of patterns. And the material we use to create patterns is ideas. Math then belongs to the realm of fiction. For example, we can imagine a geometric shape with perfect edges, knowing that it could never exist in the real world. Then we can ask questions about it and create explanations.

Yet, when we teach math, we aim to repeat the steps of someone else's creation without asking how they got there, or why.