information search on a computer based on Boolean logic (using expressions such as OR, AND, NOT, NOR)
For other uses, see:
Boolean algebra (structure) for semantic aspects, namely the algebraic structures satisfying those laws;
binary arithmetic for discussions the use of
binary numbers in
computer systems;
Boolean satisfiability problem for the
NP-complete problem of deciding satisfiability of Boolean formulas. Boolean algebra (or Boolean logic) is a logical calculus of truth values, developed by
George Boole. It resembles the
algebra of
real numbers as taught in high school, but with the numeric operations of multiplication xy, addition x + y, and negation −x replaced by the logical operations of conjunction x∧y, disjunction x∨y, and complement ¬x. The Boolean operations are these and all other operations obtainable from them by composition; equivalently, the finitary operations on the set {0,1}. The laws of Boolean algebra can be defined
axiomatically as the equations derivable from a sufficient finite subset of those laws, such as the equations axiomatizing a complemented
distributive lattice or a
Boolean ring, or
semantically as those equations identically true or valid over {0,1}. The axiomatic approach is
sound and
complete in the sense that it proves respectively neither more nor fewer laws than the validity-based semantic approach.
See more at Wikipedia.org...
<
information science> (Or "Boolean query") A query using the
Boolean operators,
AND,
OR, and
NOT, and parentheses to construct a complex condition from simpler criteria. A typical example is searching for combinatons of keywords on a
World-Wide Web search engine.
Examples:
car or automobile
"New York" and not "New York state"
The term is sometimes stretched to include searches using other operators, e.g. "near".
Not to be confused with
binary search.
See also:
weighted search.
(1999-10-23)
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