MATHEMATICIANS AND THE SELECTION TASK

Learning to think logically and present ideas in a logical fashion has always been considered a central part of becoming a mathematician. In this paper we compare the performance of three groups: mathematics undergraduates, mathematics staff and history undergraduates (representative of a ‘general population’). These groups were asked to solve Wason’s selection task, a seemingly straightforward logical problem. Given the assumption that logic plays a major role in mathematics, the results were surprising: less than a third of students and less than half of staff gave the correct answer. Moreover, mathematicians seem to make different mistakes from the most common mistake noted in the literature. The implications of these results for our understanding of mathematical thought are discussed with reference to the role of error checking.