logic

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Definition

Logic, from Classical Greek λόγος logos (the word), is the study of patterns found in reasoning. The task of the logician is to set down rules for distinguishing between valid and fallacious inference, between rational and flawed arguments.

Traditionally, logic is studied as a branch of philosophy, one part of the classical trivium, which consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. Since the mid-nineteenth century logic has also been commonly studied in mathematics. More recently logic has been applied to computer science. The parts that make up a computer chip are often called ""logic gates.""

As a formal science, logic investigates and classifies the structure of statements and arguments, both through the study of formal systems of inference and through the study of arguments in natural language. The scope of logic is therefore large, ranging from core topics such as the study of fallacies and paradoxes, to specialized analyses of reasoning using probability and to arguments involving causality.

Wikipedia contributors, ""Logic,"" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Logic&oldid=104417422 (accessed January 31, 2007).

See reason, inference, and causality.