Breaking arithmetic down to a single operator represented as movement and a single value represented as null/zero. Because there is no variation in operator or value you can remove them from the equation so only the structure remains. You can use that structure to create fractals storing information, manipulate and navigate through them. Working on the final prototype now and got rough designs to implement in hardware but its getting severely delayed because of absence of UBI.
There are two types of higher education here, academic and applied. School adviser had no clue and advised to walk the applied path because it would get me into computer science one year faster. Yeah, applied CS, but I needed academic. Tried to get back onto the train, did hardware and software for a total of 9 years but in the end the gap was too large to get recognised and make the jump. One advantage though, it allowed me to think outside the academic box.