The article isn't making a silly distinction. The conclusion the article is trying to refute is that Computing is Math. Your point is Math is Language. His point is Computing is Language. Dogs are animals, cats are animals, but cats aren't dogs.
So yes both Math and Computing use symbols and rules to represent things and relationships between them. But that doesn't make them the same. In computing, symbols are mostly used to represent actions to be performed by a machine which is very different from most math.
So yes both Math and Computing use symbols and rules to represent things and relationships between them. But that doesn't make them the same. In computing, symbols are mostly used to represent actions to be performed by a machine which is very different from most math.