TR's Basics - Boolean Algebra

 

People see the word algebra and often panic. Or it might be that the word Boolean causes them unease. Rest easy. In the case of this subject it is unnecessary. All that the word algebra means is to use letters/words to represent numbers or values. If you have written even a single line script containing a variable you've already been, to an extent, using algebra - you just might not have realised it! So what about the Boolean part. That is simply named after the victorian mathematician who devised this form of logical calculation. His name was George Boole and he was English. His form of algebra deals exclusively with formal (TRUE / FALSE i.e. binary) logic.

 

Because we are dealing with binary logic it is possible to know all the possible answers. In the included document all possible answers are given. So what are we dealing with here? Operations involving NOT as well as AND, OR, XOR and their inverse (all is made clear in the main document).

 

So why have I spent days (on and off) composing and writing this? Firstly I felt that this subject hadn't been covered in enough depth nor with enough clarity. My hope is that I have addressed that well enough for the main document to be not only a tutorial on the subject but hopefully a detailed reference for everybody. Please let me know by a leaving a comment or even a vote.

 

 

TR 09/2017

 

UPDATE - I have been made aware of a few small things which I have now incorporated into a separate appendix. I have also taken the opportunity to include a text document containing a set of 32 constants for use with bitwise operations.

 

TR 10/2017