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Celebrate the 200th Birthday of George Boole With Logic (i-programmer.info)

Posted by timothy on from the well-that's-a-lotta-boole dept.

mikejuk writes: November 2nd 2015 is the bicentenary of George Boole, dubbed the forefather of modern information technology. To mark the event 55,000 school students globally will be learning about Boolean Logic. Free lesson plans, puzzles and worksheets have been made available in English, Irish and Mandarin and schools in over 30 countries have signed up. According to the George Boole 200 website set up by University College Cork (UCC), the Irish university where he was the first Professor of Mathematics in the mid-19th century, Boole is an unsung hero of the digital age who deserves to be recognized as the forefather of the Information Age. An hour-long documentary, The Genius of George Boole, will be released on November 2 and available to view online until November 16. Although Boole did briefly encounter Charles Babbage during his lifetime he wasn't responsible for bringing together binary arithmetic and what we now call Boolean logic. That achievement is down to Claude Shannon who recognised the relevance for engineering of Boole's symbolic logic. As a result of Shannon's work Boole's thinking became the practical foundation of digital circuit design and the theoretical grounding of the the digital age.

31 of 63 comments (clear)

  1. True or False by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    You need a whole class to explain Boolean Logic.

    1. Re:True or False by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 2

      When I learnt Boolean logic, it was called Boolean algebra. I think I can still remember most of the rules.

      It is sad that most people cannot apply logic to solving problems. With all the facts at hand, too often irrational conclusions are arrived at. That is probably one of the reasons artificial intelligence is so difficult. We do not know how to model irrationality.

    2. Re:True or False by grcumb · · Score: 1

      You need a whole class to explain Boolean Logic.

      Booleans? You either get them or you don't.

      --
      Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
    3. Re:True or False by Freshly+Exhumed · · Score: 3, Funny

      You need a whole class to explain Boolean Logic.

      Not to be snobbish, but as for class I studied Bouillon Logic with Paul Bocuse in France.

      --
      I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
    4. Re:True or False by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      When I learnt Boolean logic, it was called Boolean algebra. I think I can still remember most of the rules.

      And when you've had too much logic, visit Congress, or any local establishment where politicians congregate. That's been a fully logic-free zone since at least the 19th century.

    5. Re:True or False by CAOgdin · · Score: 1

      There is only 1 type of rational person in the world: Those who "get" and can use Boolean logic. The rest are zeros.

  2. Or... by RyanFenton · · Score: 1

    Or, you know, don't. Both work. He's awesome both cases.

    Ryan Fenton

  3. I can tell you one thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...the UK Government, or, indeed, anyone in the UK, will NOT be celebrating this centenary. We don't recognise our scientists.

    As an aside, 2015 is the 800th anniversary of the birth of Roger Bacon, a British Franciscan friar who was pivotal in the early development of the Scientific Method. It is arguable that he 'invented science' - certainly there are few others of whom this could be said. And yet the entire British (and World) academic community have completely ignored the passage of this date.

    1. Re:I can tell you one thing... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      There should be a day that isn't this day or that day or his day or her day.

      International "it's just an ordinary fucking day" day.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:I can tell you one thing... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      We don't recognise our scientists.

      We have Darwin on our £10 bank note.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  4. 100000000 by bugs2squash · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't we wait for his 256th birthday ?

    --
    Nullius in verba
    1. Re:100000000 by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Is his birthday signed or unsigned?

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re:100000000 by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

      This would be for Donald Knuth. Just like $2.56 is one hexadecimal dollar, 256 years is one hexadecimal century.

  5. Unsung hero? by blind+biker · · Score: 3, Informative

    In every academic institution I studied or worked, every professor of mathematics and electronics-related subject acknowledged Boole as the founder of digital logic.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
    1. Re:Unsung hero? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      He is missing. I managed to get my master of science in electrical engineering with a focus on digital electronics and his name didn't come up even once. Boolean algebra was used all the time and we knew it was named after somebody, but I actually thought it was some German named Bool.

      Thinking about it, I didn't really have engineering/science history classes at all at the university. It was hard on studying what is needed to make something work. Who invented what was mostly skipped and what I know in this field is mainly from what I studied as a hobby after graduating. That's actually horrible now that I think about it since failures in the past are as important as successes. Knowing how people tried to improve something in the past and how it failed helps you to not waste time trying the very same with the same result.

    2. Re:Unsung hero? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      That was quite a stretch there, neighbor! Did you pull any muscles making that leap?

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    3. Re:Unsung hero? by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      So if people don't know about George Boole's disproven theory of human thought which accidentally triggered the information revolution, they won't be able to vote responsibly?!?

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
  6. taught grades 4-8 in 1960s new math by peter303 · · Score: 1

    The 1960s New Math movement was similar to the 2010s Common Core: alternative ways of teaching math make you learn it better. I dont agree. You have to tighten up and memorizes tables, formulas and algorithms, especially when you have a strong child's mind.
    The school year started with a week of set theory with some Boolean algorithms. I never used the stuff in real life until college digital circuits.

    1. Re:taught grades 4-8 in 1960s new math by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      The 1960s New Math movement was similar to the 2010s Common Core: alternative ways of teaching math make you learn it better.

      Wrong. Common core is NOT a teaching method, it's a specification for what kids ought to be able to do at various ages. The "how" is up to the teacher.

      http://www.corestandards.org/a...

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  7. Re:Logic is sorely missing. by captjc · · Score: 2

    Your logic is ambiguous.

    "In what you're saying, do you mean OR or AND," and they reply "Yes."

    Yes is a correct answer to that statement, just not the one you are expecting. If either OR or AND is what they mean then an affirmative can be correct. Perhaps the correct question to ask is: "In what you're saying, WHICH do you mean, OR or AND?

    Then you have to explain it to them: "Cake OR iced cream or cake AND iced cream?" ... and they get confused and insulted.

    Obviously the correct question to ask is "Would you like Cake OR Iced Cream?" as it logically gives the largest number of combinations: cake, iced cream, both, or neither. Whereas asking about Cake AND Iced Cream gives the option of both or neither since they two have become conditionally paired.

    Then again, you can also realize that few people use precise language but most people who are not socially dysfunctional or deliberate assholes understand meaning and intent of the question because people are not computers with strict syntax requirements.

    --
    Slow Down Cowboy! It's been 1 hour, 47 minutes since you last successfully posted a comment
  8. (Video) Not Available in your Country by Bob_Who · · Score: 1

    I tried to view the video discussed in the article and the youtube link displays:

    "This video contains content from RTE. It is not available in your country"

    What country am I in if I can read Slashdot?

    1. Re:(Video) Not Available in your Country by hcs_$reboot · · Score: 1

      VPN

      --
      Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
    2. Re:(Video) Not Available in your Country by CAOgdin · · Score: 1

      That's a YouTube restriction. Unfortunately, it appears that the only sites that host this film have pirated it in Ireland, and put it up only on SCAMMER sites. I would hope there would be a downloadable version available as .mp4, so we can educate others about the magnificent achievements Boole made in understanding basic logic. I believe him to be as important to the evolution of computing as I do Alan Turing (where would Turing have been without Boole???).

      Irish Television, RTE, could make the film available, but apparently the developers of the documentary wish to retain total control over it's distribution. I'm hoping someone puts the pirated version up on a Torrent, so the rest of us can learn from it, too.

    3. Re:(Video) Not Available in your Country by Bob_Who · · Score: 1

      Well, at least this illustrates how inadequate human procedure can be when it comes to the free flow of ideas...er....I mean intellectual property... If history (aforesaid "reality") resembles previous works involving language on media, then commercial and legal interests shall have license to subvert their transmission to the populous. This, of course, is for the common good, of the few. Those who may benefit must pursue it, and retain it, as if it were a commodity with strict rules of exchange.

      Charles Dickens may have been paid by the word, but he never paid his royalties to the the King's English. All legal and commercial arrangements are an impediment in fact, but they are nothing more. One way or another, if its expressed, then its reproducible and eternally subject to all forms of exploitation. We can pay to save a little time, if we opt to, but they can't take it away even if they think they own it. Eventually, our silly customs will subside or take new form and elaborations of human nature in its various forms.

      But Boole and Turing, like genius of any age, will live on in one form or another. The rest of this nonsense is simply that..nonsense. And nonsense is a silly long term business strategy...unless you're Mother Goose or a Jabberwocky, or a Legislator.

  9. Re:You need a whole class to explain Boolean Logic by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    I was trying to go for a joke about how boolean operators are a class of operators but I got so many results about a boolean class in various programming languages.

  10. Birthday by jan_jes · · Score: 1

    Google celebrates English mathematician George Boole's 200th birthday.You can see the video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  11. All men are mortal; Socrates is a man by edittard · · Score: 1

    Boole is an unsung hero of the digital age who deserves to be recognized as the forefather of the Information Age.

    Isn't that over-egging it a bit? It's been a long time, but isn't it really the same as ancient Greek syllogisms except with symbols instead of words?

    --
    At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
    1. Re:All men are mortal; Socrates is a man by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 1

      Syllogisms are all about "all Xs are Ys" and "some Xs are Ys", aren't they? That's just implication ("->" in Boolean algebra) -- no ands or ors.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
  12. Re:For those of you that haven't done by geantvert · · Score: 1

    Obviously, learning formal logic did not help improve your writing skills.

  13. Re:Learn to read troll... apk by dave420 · · Score: 1

    If the framework is fucked there is no guarantee anyone will understand anything. Your framework is intrinsically fucked, as it is indistinguishable from one created by someone with untreated mental issues. That's not to say you have untreated mental issues, just that you argue like someone with said issues.

  14. To bad it isn't an even number by whitedsepdivine · · Score: 1

    We got to wait another 56 years.