Madam, - One can only hope that the critical thinking which Dr Gary McGuire (June 15th) believes is encouraged by the study of maths might one day also extend to the assessment of valid arguments from given premises, since he seems to have formulated the logic of his point with little regard for sound inference. By his own premise (that logic is fundamental to maths), there is nothing at all bizarre - as he claims - about the simple assertion that Sudoku requires only logic, not maths skills.
His reasoning is as follows: Maths skills include logic; therefore solving a logic puzzle will require us to use maths skills. (If p, then q; q, therefore p.) This is an invalid inference.
All he is entitled to say is: Maths skills include logic; therefore solving a maths puzzle will require us to use logic. (If p, then q; p, therefore q.) Or: Maths skills include logic; therefore when we are not required to use logic, we are not solving a maths puzzle. (If p, then q; not-q, therefore not-p.)
The problem really turns on whether Sudoku is in fact a maths or a logic puzzle - and Dr McGuire opines as to the former only at the very end of his piece.
So he has merely contradicted the writer he was criticising, nothing more. Whether employers value the skills developed through a study of maths is a separate point entirely. - Yours, etc,
PAUL DOWLING, Coolrua Drive, Dublin 9.