Introduction to Boolean Algebra
Explore Boolean algebra concepts and how they form the foundation of logical operations in programming. Understand the use of logical operators like AND, OR, and NOT through practical examples and truth tables to enhance your programming skills and decision-making abilities.
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George Boole, the founder of Boolean algebra, is considered one of the founders of computer science. In 1847, when he wrote his famous book The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, he had not thought about PCs, mobiles, or tabs. But in his second book, An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, which he wrote in 1854, he set the path for future computations. His great idea started a new branch of algebra, Boolean algebra, where the values of the variables are either true or false. They are usually denoted by 1 and 0, respectively. In elementary algebra, the values of variables are numbers, and we can perform several operations on them like addition and multiplication, etc.
In Boolean algebra, we can only perform three operations:
- Conjunction (using the AND operator)
- Disjunction (using the OR operator)
- Negation (using the NOT operator)
Logical operators
We can use logical operators similar to the numerical operators in elementary algebra. ...