Boolean meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

Boolean

adj

UK /ˈbuːl.i.ən/ · US /ˈbuli.ən/

Etymology From Boole + -ean, named after English mathematician, philosopher and logician George Boole (1815–1864).

Of or pertaining to the work of George Boole.

Computing, Engineering, Human sciences, Logic, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Philosophy, Physical sciences, Sciences Pertaining to data items that can have “true” and “false” (or, equivalently, 1 and 0 respectively) as their only possible values and to operations on such values.

Oh, Boolean operators! "Blue and ones"! Good idea!2005 May 9, Michael Chapman; Matthew Chapman, “Bug In Mouth Disease”, in Homestar Runner, spoken by Strong Sad (Matthew Chapman):
The associativity of OR and AND is not at all obvious. It is tempting to assume that because OR and AND are commutative that they must be associative also. This is not the case, however, and some commutative Boolean operators are not associative. Examples include NAND and NOR.2022 August 4, William Bahn, “Boolean Algebra Laws—Delving Into Boolean Identities”, in All About Circuits:

Derived terms: Boolean algebra, Boolean circuit, Boolean function, Boolean logic, Boolean ring, Boolean variable

Boolean

noun

Etymology From Boole + -ean, named after English mathematician, philosopher and logician George Boole (1815–1864).

Computing, Engineering, Human sciences, Logic, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Philosophy, Physical sciences, Sciences A variable that can hold a single true/false (1/0) value.

Synonyms: flag, bool