You can program the same things, they're just different syntaxes. Also, Python is interpreted so it is inherently slower than C++ or any other compile language (for at least the first run since you can create a .pyc file which has Python bytecode which is much like what Java does (except with Java you have to "compile" to run)). In Python, you can also write your own extensions in C++ and probably ASM too (if you need to lol). Python's just really good for a beginner since it gives you the basics of programming, etc. You can also compile it so that the python interpreter is right in the application so that it can be run on anyone's machine that's the same OS as yours (not sure if it works cross-platform, might just be Windows - haven't looked into it all that much for Linux so they might not have a release for it (yet)). You can't do that with Java - the user has to have a Java VM installed in order for them to run it. Of course, most people have one installed anyway.
Anyway, as for C++, you don't really have to read what all of the functions do. When I learned C, I didn't really read anything, I just played around lol. Just depends on how much time you have on your hands and how you learn best.
For math, you really don't need to have a strong math background, I'm in middle school and I'm still an average-good programmer so you obviously don't need a lot of math. Although, you do need some depending on what you're making (i.e. if you're making a 3-D engine you obviously need strong math background with vectors, etc. but if you're just writing a program to print "Hello world" (actual python syntax btw :P), you don't need any math :P).
