The questioner does not want to learn any mathematics when he asks the question "What is mathematics?".
The opposite is true: the questioner wants to rid himself of the need of learning any mathematics whatsoever. He wants to add to his conversational repertoire some brilliant answer that will permanently excuse him from any further dealings with the subject.
One cannot escape the duty of giving a nutshell answer to the question "What is mathematics?", despite the dishonesty of all short answers.
Definitions are dangerous stuff in mathematics.
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