The first math course as math major in university involved proving that a+b=b+a and that a+(b+c)=(a+b)+c. It's quite fun to go from 'advanced' calculus during the final classes of high school, to "OK, let's consider the expression 1+1=2. What does it actually mean and why is it true?"

> The first math course as math major in university involved proving that a+b=b+a and that a+(b+c)=(a+b)+c.

Really? What were the axioms?

Basically the Peano axioms

How did that proof work for rational numbers?

It's been 20+ years, and I don't remember the exact steps the course went thought. But basically we started with defining N using the Peano axioms (although I don't recall the name 'Peano' being mentioned) and proving some basic rules of addition and equality. Then we defined subtraction, multiplication and inverse elements, and constructed Z and Q. From there you get to algebraic groups, and from there you can hand wave a lot of details.

As I said it was literally one of the first math courses we did, so it wasn't super rigorous with all the technical and logical details.