Did any of you ever take a Boolean algebra class?
George Boole, a 19th-century professor of mathematics from Queens College in Cork, Ireland, is the person we can thank for it.
He wrote about the world of binary logic in his 1847 book: “The Mathematical Analysis of Logic.”
Most agree that Boole is responsible for the logical calculation processes used in digital computing systems.
Boolean algebraic logic values, true and false variables, are used to analyze and streamline digital logic circuitry used in computing systems to execute programs.
The zeros and ones used in binary coding are part of the Boolean sphere recognized as the false value known as “0,” and the true value known as “1.”
In the mid-1970s, I took digital binary electronic circuitry classes correlating the “0” as an absence of voltage and the “1” as a voltage presence.
Logic gates are a physical device applying a specific Boolean function used to control input/output combination possibilities for performing logical operations using digital circuitry, acting in a sense, as electronic switches.
Signal inputs 0 or a 1 are used on electronic digital logic gates, such as NOR, AND, NAND, XNOR, and OR.
An OR gate with two inputs of A/B using a 0/A 0/B input would result in an output of 0.
In an OR logic gate, if any of the input A/B signal inputs are high (1), the output signal is high (1).
Other types of logic gates will have different outputs based on their input signals.
Sounds logical.
I have previously written about some of the early 20th-century electronic digital computing systems using binary logic.
In 1946, The Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer (ENIAC), known as The Giant Brain, was built at the University of Pennsylvania.
Our British friends across the pond constructed the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC). It was running computing programs in 1949.
The US Army used a binary computer called the Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer (EDVAC), which became operational in 1949.
My favorite is from 1951, the Universal Automatic Computer, commonly known as the UNIVAC.
It was an electronic digital mainframe computer manufactured by the Remington Rand company in the US.
UNIVAC is one of those room-sized computers with combined cabinet dimensions of 14 feet long by 7.5 feet wide by 8 feet high.
The UNIVAC gained fame for its appearance on CBS television when it predicted the winner of the 1952 presidential election.
I watched an archived video showing CBS newscaster Walter Cronkite reporting from his anchor desk on the evening of the presidential election, Nov. 4, 1952.
A teletype machine was located near his anchor desk to send and receive information from the UNIVAC.
At around 7:30 p.m. CST, the UNIVAC determined the presidential winner would be Dwight Eisenhower – even though only a small percentage of the votes had been counted.
The UNIVAC had calculated 100-1 odds in favor of Eisenhower winning the election over Adlai Stevenson.
The accuracy of the UNIVAC’s prediction was less than 1 percent – which stunned the news folks at CBS.
CBS delayed disclosing the computer’s prediction because, at the time, public opinion polling showed Stevenson was leading.
CBS executives feared the UNIVAC was wrong, and thus CBS, too, would be wrong.
However, the UNIVAC’s prediction was correct.
“We saw it as an added feature to our coverage that could be very interesting in the future, and there was a great deal of pride that we had this exclusively. But I don’t think that we felt the computer would become predominant in our coverage, in any way,” Cronkite said about the UNIVAC.
Let’s talk a little about George Boole.
He was born Nov. 2, 1815, in Lincoln, England.
Boole specialized in differential mathematical equations and algebraic logic.
He was an English mathematician and Professor of Mathematics at the University College in Cork, Ireland.
Boole authored another book in 1854 titled “The Laws of Thought,” where he described algebraic logic probabilities and equations.
“The distinction between true and false, between correct and incorrect, exists in the processes of the intellect, but not in the region of a physical necessity. As we advance from the lower stages of organic being to the higher grade of conscious intelligence, this contrast gradually dawns upon us,” Boole wrote.
The basic principles in this book became the foundation of what would become the modern “information age.”
Boole was 49 years old when he passed away on Dec. 8, 1864.
He is buried in the village of Blackrock, within Cork City, Ireland.
The Project Gutenberg organization has archived Boole’s book, “Laws of Thought” at http://tinyurl.com/bytesGB.
Boole’s “The Mathematical Analysis of Logic,” published in 1847, can be read at http://tinyurl.com/bytes-1847.
A detailed diagram of the OR gate can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/bytes-OR.
The University College Cork produced a 7-minute video about George Boole at http://tinyurl.com/Boolevid.
Continue to stay safe out there.
We are looking at binary digital data
OR Gate
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| Binary 0 through 10 |