There are small things someone might notice or come up with on their own*. Learning, the first time around, seems like it’s usually not done that way.
*Like how to take a sequence of numbers (1, 4, 9), and come up with a polynomial equation that fits (f=x^2). Working out that there’s a faster/algebra way to add consecutive numbers together is fairly straightforward (and probably anything elseGauss did is more impressive).
There are small things someone might notice or come up with on their own*. Learning, the first time around, seems like it’s usually not done that way.
*Like how to take a sequence of numbers (1, 4, 9), and come up with a polynomial equation that fits (f=x^2). Working out that there’s a faster/algebra way to add consecutive numbers together is fairly straightforward (and probably anything else Gauss did is more impressive).