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• Applications

Boolean algebra is a form of mathematics developed by English mathematician George Boole (1815–1864). Boole created a system by which certain logical statements can be expressed in mathematical terms. The consequences of those statements can then be discovered by performing mathematical operations on the symbols.

As a simple example, consider the following two statements: "I will be home today" and "I will be home tomorrow." Then let the first statement be represented by the symbol P and the second statement be represented by the symbol Q. The rules of Boolean algebra can be used to find out the consequences of various combinations of these two propositions, P and Q.

In general, the two statements can be combined in one of two ways:

P or Q: I will be home today OR I will be home tomorrow.

P and Q: I will be home today AND I will be home...