- English mathematician
whose work The Mathematical Analysis of Logic 1847 established the
basis of modern mathematical logic, and whose Boolean algebra can
be used in designing computers.
Boole's system is essentially two-valued. By subdividing objects into
separate classes, each with a given property, his algebra makes it
possible to treat different classes according to the presence or absence
of the same property. Hence it involves just two numbers, 0 and 1
- the binary system used in the computer.
Boole was born in Lincoln and was largely self-taught. In 1849 he
was appointed professor of mathematics at Queen's College in Cork,
Ireland.
In 1847 Boole announced that logic was more closely allied to mathematics
than to philosophy. He argued not only that there was a close analogy
between algebraic symbols and those that represented logical forms
but also that symbols of quantity could be separated from symbols
of operation. These ideas received fuller treatment in An Investigation
of the Laws of Thought on which are founded the Mathematical Theories
of Logic and Probabilities 1854.
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