"Anyone who cannot cope with mathematics is not fully human. At best he is a tolerable subhuman who has learned to wear shoes, bathe and not make messes in the house." (Lazarus Long as reported by Robert A. Heinlein)
I am not sure I fully agree with the above as one of the more interesting things I try to do (sometimes) is explain a mathematical concept to someone who claims not to understand math & to hate it. Taking Bruce O. and Caitrin as thesis and antithesis, my own synthesis (IMHO) would be in the direction of Bruce O. But I also believe strongly that where two people WANT to communicate a concept they will find a way; if B doesn't know that particular branch of math it will simply take both of them a little longer.