Did you know that two philosophers named Bertrand Russell and Alfred North Whitehead published the principia mathematica which was meant to be the foundation of mathematics. They described a set of axioms and inference rules in symbolic logic from which any mathematical truth should've been provable. On page 378(!) they finally were able to speak about a proof defining 1+1 = 2, but couldn't prove it yet, because they hadn't defined addition yet.
Imagine spending years trying to write that!
And here's the worst part...
In 1910 they published their first print which was altered a couple of times during the years to come. In 1931 however a philospher named Gödel gave an indisputable proof that their work, or any other work for that matter, would not be able to describe the foundation of mathematics.
Imagine writing over 600 pages of highly complicated math only to learn you will never reach your goal.
Think 1+1 is easy?
Think again!