19TH CENTURY MATHEMATICS - BOOLE

The British mathematician and philosopher George Boole,

along with his near contemporary and countryman
Augustus de Morgan, was one of the few since Leibniz to
give any serious thought to logic and its mathematical
implications. Unlike Leibniz, though, Boole came to see
logic as principally a discipline of mathematics, rather than
of philosophy.

His extraordinary mathematical talents did not manifest

themselves in early life. He received his early lessons in George Boole (1815-1864)
mathematics from his father, a tradesman with an amateur
interest in in mathematics and logic, but his favourite
subject at school was classics. He was a quiet, serious and modest young man from a
humble working class background, and largely self-taught in his mathematics (he would
borrow mathematical journals from his local Mechanics Institute).

It was only at university and afterwards that his mathematical skills began to be fully
realized, although, even then, he was all but unknown in his own time, other than for a
few insightful but rather abstruse papers on differential equations and the calculus of
finite differences. By the age of 34, though, he was well respected enough in his field to
be appointed as the first professor of mathematics of Queen's College (now University
College) in Cork, Ireland.

But it was his contributions to the algebra of logic which were later to be viewed as
immensely important and influential. Boole began to see the possibilities for applying his
algebra to the solution of logical problems, and he pointed out a deep analogy between
the symbols of algebra and those that can be made to represent logical forms and
syllogisms. In fact, his ambitions stretched to a desire to devise and develop a system
of algebraic logic that would systematically define and model the function of the human
brain. His novel views of logical method were due to his profound confidence in
symbolic reasoning, and he speculated on what he called a calculus of reason during
the 1840s and 1850s.
Determined to find a way to
encode logical arguments into
a language that could be
manipulated and solved
mathematically, he came up
with a type of linguistic
algebra, now known as
Boolean algebra. The three
most basic operations of this
algebra were AND, OR and
NOT, which Boole saw as the
only operations necessary to
perform comparisons of sets
of things, as well as basic
mathematical functions.

Booles use of symbols and

connectives allowed for the
simplification of logical
expressions, including such
important algebraic identities Boolean logic
as: (X or Y) = (Y or X);
not(not X) = X; not(X and Y) =
(not X) or (not Y); etc.

He also developed a novel approach based on a binary system, processing only two
objects (yes-no, true-false, on-off, zero-one). Therefore, if true is represented by
1 and false is represented by 0, and two propositions are both true, then it is possible
under Boolean algebra for 1 + 1 to equal 1 ( the + is an alternative representation of
the OR operator)

Despite the standing he had won in the academic community by that time, Booles
revolutionary ideas were largely criticized or just ignored, until the American logician
Charles Sanders Peirce (among others) explained and elaborated on them some years
after Booles death in 1864.

Almost seventy years later, Claude Shannon made a major breakthrough in realizing
that Boole's work could form the basis of mechanisms and processes in the real world,
and particularly that electromechanical relay circuits could be used to solve Boolean
algebra problems. The use of electrical switches to process logic is the basic concept
that underlies all modern electronic digital computers, and so Boole is regarded in
hindsight as a founder of the field of computer science, and his work led to the
development of applications he could never have imagined.

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George Boole's parents were Mary Ann Joyce and John Boole. John made shoes but
he was interested in science and in particular the application of mathematics to
scientific instruments. Mary Ann was a lady's maid and she married John on 14
September 1806. They moved to Lincoln where John opened a cobbler's shop at 34
Silver Street. The family were not well off, partly because John's love of science and
mathematics meant that he did not devote the energy to developing his business in the
way he might have done. George, their first child, was born after Mary Ann and John
had been married for nine years. They had almost given up hope of having children
after this time so it was an occasion for great rejoicing. George was christened the day
after he was born, an indication that he was a weak child that his parents feared might
not live. He was named after John's father who had died in April 1815. Over the next
five years Mary Ann and John had three further children, Mary Ann, William and
Charles.

If George was a weak child after his birth, he certainly soon became strong and
healthy. George first attended a school in Lincoln for children of tradesmen run by
two Misses Clarke when he was less than two years old. After a year he went to a
commercial school run by Mr Gibson, a friend of John Boole, where he remained until
he was seven years old. His early instruction in mathematics, however, was from his
father who also gave George a liking for constructing optical instruments. When he
was seven George attended a primary school where he was taught by Mr Reeves. His
interests turned to languages and his father arranged that he receive instruction in
Latin from a local bookseller.

Having learnt Latin from a tutor, George went on to teach himself Greek. By the age
of 14 he had become so skilled in Greek that it provoked an argument. He translated a
poem by the Greek poet Meleager which his father was so proud of that he had it
published. However the talent was such that a local schoolmaster disputed that any 14
year old could have written with such depth. By this time George was attending
Bainbridge's Commercial Academy in Lincoln which he had entered on 10 September
1828. This school did not provide the type of education he would have wished but it
was all his parents could afford. However he was able to teach himself French and
German studying for himself academic subjects that a commercial school did not
cover.

Boole did not study for an academic degree, but from the age of 16 he was an assistant
school teacher at Heigham's School in Doncaster. This was rather forced on him since
his father's business collapsed and he found himself having to support financially his
parents, brothers and sister. He maintained his interest in languages, began to study
mathematics seriously, and gave up ideas which he had to enter the Church. The first
advanced mathematics book he read was Lacroix's Differential and integral calculus.
He was later to realise that he had almost wasted five years in trying to teach himself
the subject instead of having a skilled teacher. In 1833 he moved to a new teaching
position in Liverpool but he only remained there for six months before moving to
Hall's Academy in Waddington, four miles from Lincoln. In 1834 he opened his own
school in Lincoln although he was only 19 years old.

In 1838 Robert Hall, who had run Hall's Academy in Waddington, died and Boole was
invited to take over the school which he did. His parents, brothers and sister moved to
Waddington and together they ran the school which had both boarding and day pupils.
At this time Boole was studying the works of Laplace and Lagrange, making notes
which would later be the basis for his first mathematics paper. However he did receive
encouragement from Duncan Gregory who at this time was in Cambridge and the
editor of the recently founded Cambridge Mathematical Journal. Boole was unable to
take Duncan Gregory's advice and study courses at Cambridge as he required the
income from his school to look after his parents. In the summer of 1840 he had
opened a boarding school in Lincoln and again the whole family had moved with him.
He began publishing regularly in the Cambridge Mathematical Journal and his
interests were influenced by Duncan Gregory as he began to study algebra.

Boole had begun to correspond with De Morgan in 1842 and when in the following
year he wrote a paper On a general method of analysis applying algebraic methods to
the solution of differential equations he sent it to De Morgan for comments. It was
published by Boole in the Transactions of the Royal Society in 1844 and for this work
he received the Society's Royal Medal in November 1844. His mathematical work
was beginning to bring him fame.

Boole was appointed to the chair of mathematics at Queens College, Cork in 1849. In
fact he made an application for a chair in any of the new Queen's Colleges of Ireland
in 1846 and in September of that year De Morgan, Kelland, Cayley,
and Thomson were among those writing testimonials in support. De Morgan wrote
(see for example [7]):-

I can speak confidently to the fact of his being not only well-versed in the highest
branches of mathematics, but possessed of original power for their extension which
gives him a very respectable rank among their English cultivators of this day.
Kelland wrote:-

From the originality of his conceptions and the extent and accuracy of his knowledge,
I conceive he has few superiors in Europe ...
Boole's father died in December 1848 before the decision had been made concerning
the Irish chairs but an announcement came in August 1849 that Boole was to become
the first Professor of Mathematics at Queen's College, Cork, and he took up the
position in November. He taught there for the rest of his life, gaining a reputation as
an outstanding and dedicated teacher. However the position was not without difficulty
as the College became embroiled in religious disputes. Boole wrote to De Morgan on
17 October 1850 (see for example [7]):-

... if you should hear of any situation in England that would be likely to suit me ... let
me know of it. I am not terrified by the storm of religious bigotry which is at this
moment raging round us here. I am not dissatisfied with my duties and I may venture
to say that I am on good terms with my colleagues and with my pupils. But I cannot
help entertaining a feeling ... that recent events in this College have laid the
foundation of a lack of mutual trust and confidence among us ...
In May 1851 Boole was elected as Dean of Science, a role he carried out
conscientiously. By this time he had already met Mary Everest (a niece of Sir George
Everest, after whom the mountain is named) whose uncle was the professor of Greek
at Cork and a friend of Boole. They met first in 1850 when Mary visited her uncle in
Cork and again in July 1852 when Boole visited the Everest family in Wickwar,
Gloucestershire, England. Boole began to give Mary informal mathematics lessons on
the differential calculus. At this time he was 37 years old while Mary was only 20. In
1855 Mary's father died leaving her without means of support and Boole proposed
marriage. They married on 11 September 1855 at a small ceremony in Wickwar. It
proved a very happy marriage with five daughters: Mary Ellen born in 1856, Margaret
born in 1858, Alicia (later Alicia Stott) born in 1860, Lucy Everest born in 1862, and
Ethel Lilian born in 1864. MacHale writes [7]:-

The large gap in their ages seemed to count for nothing because they were kindred
spirits with an almost complete unity of purpose.
Let us now look at Boole's most important work. In 1854 he published An
investigation into the Laws of Thought, on Which are founded the Mathematical
Theories of Logic and Probabilities. Boole approached logic in a new way reducing it
to a simple algebra, incorporating logic into mathematics. He pointed out the analogy
between algebraic symbols and those that represent logical forms. It began the algebra
of logic called Boolean algebra which now finds application in computer construction,
switching circuits etc. Boole himself understood the importance of the work. He wrote
in a letter to Thomsondated 2 January 1851 (see for example [7]):-

I am now about to set seriously to work upon preparing for the press an account of my
theory of Logic and Probabilities which in its present state I look upon as the most
valuable if not the only valuable contribution that I have made or am likely to make to
Science and the thing by which I would desire if at all to be remembered hereafter ...
Boole also worked on differential equations, the influential Treatise on Differential
Equations appeared in 1859, the calculus of finite differences, Treatise on the
Calculus of Finite Differences (1860), and general methods in probability. He
published around 50 papers and was one of the first to investigate the basic properties
of numbers, such as the distributive property, that underlie the subject of algebra.

Many honours were given to Boole as the genius in his work was recognised. He
received honorary degrees from the universities of Dublin and Oxford and was elected
a Fellow of the Royal Society (1857). However his career, which was started rather
late, came to an unfortunately early end when he died at the age of 49. The
circumstances are described by Macfarlane in [18] as follows:-

One day in 1864 he walked from his residence to the College, a distance of two miles,
in the drenching rain, and lectured in wet clothes. The result was a feverish cold
which soon fell upon his lungs and terminated his career ....
What Macfarlane fails to say is that Boole's wife believed that a remedy should
resemble the cause. She put Boole to bed and threw buckets of water over the bed
since his illness had been caused by getting wet.

Hirst described Boole as:-

... evidently an earnest able and at the same time a genial man.
His work was praised by De Morgan who said:-

Boole's system of logic is but one of many proofs of genius and patience combined. ...
That the symbolic processes of algebra, invented as tools of numerical calculation,
should be competent to express every act of thought, and to furnish the grammar and
dictionary of an all-containing system of logic, would not have been believed until it
was proved. When Hobbes ... published his "Computation or Logique" he had a
remote glimpse of some of the points which are placed in the light of day by Mr Boole.
Boolean algebra has wide applications in telephone switching and the design of
modern computers. Boole's work has to be seen as a fundamental step in today's
computer revolution.