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I find the wording in this article really odd. He was not an math enigma he was a mathematician; he solved enigmas.

>A vexing character himself, Mr. Grothendieck (pronounced GROAT-en-deek) turned away from mathematics at the height of his powers in the early 1970s

Math powers?

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Yes, math powers.

It's a commonly used expression in the math community ("powerful mathematician"). If you ever meet a mathematician as absurdly good as Grothendieck was, you'll get the meaning ( his methods are sometimes called "black magic").

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