abstractions in math language

I think Descartes and his geometry/algebra unification scheme should be credited with why we think zero is such an easy concept *today*. If you read the math texts before Descartes (whether Indian or Italian) it's really, really hard to understand what they are talking about. Algebra itself was undergoing formalization wars throughout the 16th century (ie, there were competing notation APIs with various levels of syncopation and symbolization).

http://igitur-archive.library.uu.nl/dissertations/2002-1105-161148/c3.pdf

That's one particular trend in the history of math ... something's hard till someone invents a useful and formal notation for it, a standard. Then the concept is obvious. One less layer of abstraction for the mind to go through to get to the truth ("sensation becomes conception" the neotechies would rhapsodize). I don't doubt geniuses like Brahmagupta were able to think abstractly without the crutch of notation. But a symbolic system allows regular folks like us to get a peek at what they were thinking.