Breh, as a non-book reader, I feel your pain, but ain't nobody reading all this shyt.
Edit: I just glanced up and read your last sentence
To sum it up
1. a * b = 144 is a lot harder to solve than
2. 12 * b = 144
Number 1 is where I want to be. But the book readers are plugging in the variables (like #2 ) and making it easier for us to solve the larger mysteries of the show