question about boolean algebra

The question is " Why boolean algebra has only two distinct elements i.e., 0 and 1?"

I think it has only two elements because it deals with switching which has only two states ON and OFF.

Am I right or are there any other reasons..

Thanks in advance.

Bool is the name of the scientist that has studied for the first time the digital worlds...when high tech meant...nothing!
...without even knowing what an integrated circuit was...

The boolean algebra is also called binary (which means two)
this means you have two symbols to identify all the numbers.

Decimal system is the same...we have ten symbols to identify all the numbers (ten fingers)

Octal is the same... (eight symbols)

...what a symbol is, it's just a matter of conventions. We use the Arabic numbers...

1,2,3,4....

but could be ?,@,5,R,...

Ciao,

Mauro

gpvnayak,

The question is " Why boolean algebra has only two distinct elements i.e., 0 and 1?"

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Because George Boole 1815-1864, a mathematician and philosopher, wrote some papers about how logical axioms and results could expressed as mathematical operations. As as a philosopher, his interest was in proving a proposition based on a series of true or false conditions was in fact true or false. So he developed a mathematical algebra to deal with that problem. Others have extended and applied this work to computer science. George certainly never any inkling what computer science was or how his work could be used. But he was one of the first who inadvertently contributed to computer science through no intent of his own.

I think it has only two elements because it deals with switching which has only two states ON and OFF.

Am I right or are there any other reasons..

Click to expand...

Yes, other binary situations are right-wrong, good-bad, right-left, up-down, forward-backward, flip-flop. There are many situations that offer binary choices.

How about some trinary ones? Some are, right-left-straight ahead, good-bad-ugly, up-down-float, forward-backward-neutral, flip-flap-flop .

Would you like to try your hand at inventing a trilean algebra? You could be forever-fabulously-famous.

Ratch

Thankyou very much Ratch and Mauro.

Would you like to try your hand at inventing a trilean algebra? You could be forever-fabulously-famous.

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Too late --- Jan Lukasiewicz already came out with 3-valued logic in 1920.