The nature of number

[jonb]

Or, from another angle: if you're this curious about this stuff, you're doing yourself a disservice by not sitting through some online lectures or reading through a relevant textbook. (Also, this would force you to phrase your questions in a way that I can make better sense of )

This is a problem though, The language needed to understand maths, is not useful in finding out what I want to know until I have spent many years understanding it. When maths or any discipline will only converse in its own terms is it actually useful any more?
It seems to me the logic of maths is- does this work, if it works then it becomes part of the subject. I do not wish to know whether this or that formula works, but I am seeking if there is an understanding of what the relationship of numbers to the series are.
When looking at this I am often given allegories which are not said to be allegories, but are all the same, and very poor ones at that, so much so one wonders if the mathematics themselves have any knowledge of their subject other than a facility to fiddle with formulas, or the other answer, you must learn maths. Which is not a useful answer because it is not the maths that I want. This is the equivalent of saying I will not tell you a story until you have learnt to read. Sure the ability to read is a good thing, but I cannot do everything. I simply want to know is there a mathematical understanding of the nature of number because I want to make a comparison with classical arts understanding of a similar area.
I do not want to have to learn your language, So outside that language is there anything you can say which is useful or is it just 'academic latin', great for priests to talk to each other, about how many angles can sit on the head of a needle, and that ratifies their position as being priests, but that does not contribute any other field of knowledge?
So can a broken series be seen as a single entity? If so in what curcumstances would a series be a unit and not a unit?