Not really. Consider the causal chain X--->Y--->Z. Students of pictures can immediately conclude that X and Z are independant given Y. I do not know ANY student of Greek symbols who can easily come to same conclusion from a symbolic representation of the chain, say using PO
(potential outcomes). It is doable, of course, but it would take you a good 5-30 minutes of derivations. You must try it yourself to appreciate the difference and, if you fail, you might wish to take a look at the solution: ucla.in/2QpcGzS