True. But when people write "programmers should know math" articles, what they're almost always actually saying is "I took linear algebra in college, therefore

True. But when people write "programmers should know math" articles, what they're almost always actually saying is "I took linear algebra in college, therefore all programmers should have taken linear algebra in college", not "programmers should be able to engage in abstract logical reasoning". My own take on this is that many programmers like to believe their chosen subset of the field (in the case of "learn math" articles, often people who work in game development or scientific computing) is the only "real" programming, and that everyone who chooses another subset is deluded, stupid or otherwise inferior.