TITLE: Do people whose native languages are read right-to-left experience mathematical statements differently?
QUESTION [13 upvotes]: When I see the equation
$$A = B$$
the first idea to occur to me is that $A$ can be transformed into $B$. Although of course
$$B = A$$
has the same content, to me it connotes rather that $B$ can be transformed into $A$. I imagine that this is because English is my native language and I read left-to-right.
Native speakers of Arabic or Hebrew, do you find that the opposite is true for you? Do you find that you experience written mathematics differently at all?

REPLY [4 votes]: Another point: Sometimes when you write $A=B$, it does have a different content from writing $B=A$. This is not emphasized in algebra classes, AFAIK.
For instance,
$$(x+1)(x-1)=x^2-1$$
is "expanding", and
$$x^2-1 = (x+1)(x-1)$$
is "factoring". However, they're the same equation. (Or they're isomorphic. Or something like that.)