I think, Heinlein in "Have spacesuit - will travel" mentions something to the tune of "math is worse than peanuts". Integrals could be holding attention quite well - just check Youtube channels with explanations of everything, or MOOCs which have rather robust audience.

It's not so much that there's no aspect of math that is pleasing, as it is that whatever it is, it's exempt from the hedonistic treadmill.

It's not math. It's you solving, winning and conquering math problems, and beating other people to the solution.

Precisely. The more one learns the more unsolved problems one discovers, each more brain-stimulating than the last!

you mean, hedonic treadmill

If there's one thing I'd associate with the hedonic treadmill, it wouldn't be remembering the difference between hedonic and hedonistic.