Perhaps the most famous contrive in the realm of mathematics is $\pi$, the number of radius lengths in half a turn around a circle.

Walking $\pi$ radius lengths only takes you halfway around. Turning $\frac{\pi}{2}$ radians only takes you a quarter of the way around. $\pi$ is only half the period of a harmonic oscillator. It’s half the circle constant.

Why on earth would we have a special name for half the circumference? It’s like having a special symbol $h$ for $\frac{1}{2}$ and referring to the number one as $h + h$.

Anywhere you’re talking about radians around a circumference, the ratio you’re looking for is radius : circumference. That much should be self evident. And yet, the ancients took the ratio diameter : circumference, and now we’re stuck with $\pi$. There are times when $\pi$ is useful, but when you’re discussing circles, and you describe circles by their radius, $\pi$ is not the ratio you’re looking for.

I mention $\pi$ because it is a hotly contested contrive with popular support. Yet even poor $\pi$ has its advocates. Perhaps you yourself are not convinced that $\pi$ is wrong. Perhaps you think it’s good enough.

The other contrives lurking in your brain are far less visible than $\pi$. Most hardly seem to matter when considered individually. Yet all together, these contrives build up an aura of fear and mystery around the subjects they inhabit, an aura clearly cloaking subjects like quantum physics and general relativity.

Contrives cannot be attacked head-on. Too many people will jump to their defence. Contrives are familiar. They are safe. Everyone knows what they mean, even if they hide a deeper knowledge. Contrives are backed by the inertia of an entire culture. Everyone’s so used to their contrives that they hardly notice when their brain routes around the damage.

Simplifience cannot attack contrives head-on. So instead, we simply don’t mention them. We don’t give them the power they’re used to. We ignore them.

We do the math and science in the simplest form. We discard the historical cruft. We start from scratch and make up our own words when we have to. We draw our own boundaries.

Simplifience is here to protect you from contrives, to build up your intuition before you can be confused by the archaic notation and shattered worldviews.

Once you gain a deep intuition for math and science, the contrives will no longer be able to hurt you. Once you attain understanding it doesn’t matter what notation you use. Once you know the concepts the notation won’t matter.

All simplifience has to do is shield you from the contrives until then.