Just knowing that it took Whitehead and Russell almost 370 pages of the first edition of Principia Mathematica to be able to state 1 + 1 = 2, and nearly 800 pages of P.M. to q.e.d. 1 + 1 = 2, I think that most of us will be satisfied that it CAN be done that painstakingly, if need be, while we meanwhile get on with our shortcuts to go on to more interesting results.