# Mathematicians & Physicists... do you take automatic Logic Lessons? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 5, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mathematicians-physicists-do-you-take-automatic-logic-lessons/263250 "2004-09-05T19:48:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MikeCollins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbce88/32.png) [@MikeCollins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeCollins)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mathematicians-physicists-do-you-take-automatic-logic-lessons/263250/1 "2004-09-05T19:48:39Z")
I was wondering why it seems that those who are trained in both the mathematical and physical sciences can always get involved in debates concerning the nature of logic (e.g. law of the excluded middle… and so forth). Are logic courses taught when you take mathematics? I assume that they are but I don’t know. How is it that you know so much about logic if you have studied mathematics then? Is it a specific section that I have not come across? Or does it just come automatically (well, I would understand that you learn/develop the underlying _principles_ naturally - but NOT the actual terminology)? OK, so explain. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mathematicians-physicists-do-you-take-automatic-logic-lessons/263250/2 "2004-09-05T19:53:11Z")
I don’t know that it’s always _required_, but you can make a pretty convincing case that math is nothing more than applied logic, so it stands to reason that people who do a lot of math would be interested in learning about logic. Plus, you have to argue logically to be good at math, so there’s a certain additional incentive.