They never taught division by fractions intuitively when I was in school. I “glommed onto” it by myself at about age 10, by thinking of pie slices. The problem with mathematics instruction is that it is too abstract. I am an EE and have absolutely no problem with complex numbers and actually “think” in complex numbers. It’s takes an effort to think about what physical entities they represent. Richard Feynman taught himself how to repair radios when he was ten, so electronics and electromagnetism did not seem completely abstract to him.
I’m an ME (now retired). I had an appreciation for physical things. I took two EE courses and always marveled at people who could deal with the world of pure mathematics. Then differential equations taught me there was no difference between the physical and unseen worlds.
I later went on to an MBA and a masters degree in telecommunications engineering and plunged deeper into the world of abstract math.
Now I focus on home improvement, gardening, turf management (nutrition, disease and pest management) and hiking. I’ve taken up baking sourdough bread which quickly leads to microbiology (yeasts, and bacteria), grains, ancient grains, and that leads to learning about farming practices and land management. I’ve got a number of small family farms near us in Washington State and learning about their practices to raise profitable ancient grains is fascinating. We have quite a few “boutique” flour mills west of us in Washington State that mill those small quantities of antique grains.
Once you have the engineer’s mind, you can’t get away from it! Lifelong learning and a natural curiosity keeps your brain in good shape.