he dropped physics because of puzzles but not math?

i see this with a lot with undergrads, they claim the problems are just puzzles and not real life problems, but they are short sighted because if you can't even solve a simple puzzle you won't be able to solve the real life problems either, at least not well

as to how I defined "a class full of puzzles": the puzzles weren't organized around a single mathematical principle. Some were about induction. Others about proof by contradiction. They all had narrative setups, like pirates splitting a pot of gold, or prisoners trying to escape, etc