Logic Of George Boole And Its Application To The Design Of Modern Computers
9 Pages 2202 Words
A. Introduction
Modern computers are now considered as one of the most important digital machines in our modern time. People use computers in many ways. In business, computers track inventories with bar codes and scanners, check the credit status of customers, and transfer funds electronically. Computers in automobiles regulate the flow of fuel, thereby increasing gas mileage. Computers also entertain, creating digitized sound on stereo systems or computer-animated features from a digitally encoded laser disc. Computer programs, or applications, exist to aid every level of education, from programs that teach simple addition or sentence construction to programs that teach advanced calculus. But did you know that that the design of modern computers originally came from the logician George Boole who developed the Boolean algebra?
Boolean algebra is a two-valued system of algebra that represented logical relationships and operations. Later, scientists and physicists like John von Neumann and Alan Turing used his system of algebra for the development of modern computers.
In the latter part of the study you will see the different people who used the Boolean algebra as their channel for the progress of digital computers.
1. Life of George Boole
Boole, George (1815-1864), British mathematician and logician, who developed Boolean algebra. He was born on November 2, 1815 in Lincolnshire, England. Largely self-educated, in 1849 Boole was appointed professor of mathematics at Queen's College (now University College) in Cork, Ireland. In 1854, in An Investigation of the Laws of Thought, Boole described an algebraic system that later became known as Boolean algebra. In Boolean algebra, logical propositions are denoted by symbols and can be acted on by abstract mathematical operators that correspond to the laws of logic. Boolean algebra is of prime importance to the study of pure mathematics and to the design of modern compute...