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A law of Boolean algebra is an identity such as x ∨ (y ∨ z) = (x ∨ y) ∨ z between two Boolean terms, where a Boolean term is defined as an expression built up from variables and the constants 0 and 1 using the operations ∧, ∨, and ¬. The concept can be extended to terms involving other Boolean operations such as ⊕, →, and ≡ ...
A complete table of "logic operators" is shown by a truth table, giving definitions of all the possible (16) truth functions of 2 boolean variables (p, q): p q
A Boolean algebra can be interpreted either as a special kind of ring (a Boolean ring) or a special kind of distributive lattice (a Boolean lattice). Each interpretation is responsible for different distributive laws in the Boolean algebra.
Sometimes multiplication and division are given equal precedence, or sometimes multiplication is given higher precedence than division; see § Mixed division and multiplication below. If each subtraction is replaced with addition of the opposite (additive inverse), then the associative and commutative laws of addition allow terms to be added in ...
In the second step, the distributive law is used to simplify each of the two terms. Note that this process involves a total of three applications of the distributive property. In contrast to the FOIL method, the method using distributivity can be applied easily to products with more terms such as trinomials and higher.
The term "Boolean algebra" honors George Boole (1815–1864), a self-educated English mathematician. He introduced the algebraic system initially in a small pamphlet, The Mathematical Analysis of Logic, published in 1847 in response to an ongoing public controversy between Augustus De Morgan and William Hamilton, and later as a more substantial book, The Laws of Thought, published in 1854.
An important set of problems in computational complexity involves finding assignments to the variables of a Boolean formula expressed in conjunctive normal form, such that the formula is true. The k -SAT problem is the problem of finding a satisfying assignment to a Boolean formula expressed in CNF in which each disjunction contains at most k ...
In Lie algebras, the multiplication satisfies Jacobi identity instead of the associative law; this allows abstracting the algebraic nature of infinitesimal transformations. Other examples are quasigroup, quasifield, non-associative ring, and commutative non-associative magmas.