Leonardo was not blessed with the ability to formulate math equations or abstractions.  So he had to visualize them, which he did with his studies of proportions, his rules of perspective, his method for calculating reflections from concave mirrors and his ways of changing one shape into another of the same size. Too often, when we learn a formula or a rule- even one so simple as the method for multiplying numbers or mixing a paint color- we no longer visualize how it works. As a result, we lose our appreciation for the underlying beauty of nature’s laws.

– The Science of Creativity –