I think he was just trying to be more clear on what we define as "learned" in the context of math. Many people "learn" math and do well on tests because they have memorized ways to manipulate equations to resolve the problem without actually understanding abstractly what is going on, and are thus often less creative with their maths. Ironically, I've found that those students who appear to excel in maths are usually the ones who are less curious about the why and how of math. Maths is usually taught in a way that it discourages the people who seem to struggle with it when they are often just trying to understand the depth of it more. I was one of these students in high school, and thought I just wasn't gifted. Fortunately I had the discipline to learn it and eventually had a really good teacher.
