Freaking Alphabets..

Have been practicing maths for econs problems for the past 1.5 hours, as in how to maximize utility, maximize profit, setting up the Lagrange etc. I seldom solve any problem perfectly. Always encounter some errors. Reason? I hate alphabets. If only they could use numbers. At least you can check whether you are correct. The worst part is that of all the alphabets, they have to use similar ones such as a and q, sometimes together with the number 9, which all look the same with my disgusting cursive handwriting. And how they love the alphabet l, which can be confused with the number 1. That's not all. There's firm 1 and 2 together with period 1 and 2 in 1 question. Why can't they change it to firm i and firm j instead? How I love econs.