Jeber’s

Who do the Boolean?

Search engines do, logicians and academics do, and now you can, too.

Boolify.com is as plain and simple as Google’s search page. It’s so simple a child could do it, and indeed that’s the intended audience for this site. But adults can benefit from it as well. Boolean search is the application of Boolean algebra or logic to finding what you are looking for in Google or any search engine. Here’s a brief tutorial:

The Internet is a vast computer database. As such, its contents must be searched according to the rules of computer database searching. Much database searching is based on the principles of Boolean logic. Boolean logic refers to the logical relationship among search terms, and is named for the British-born Irish mathematician George Boole.

On Internet search engines, the options for constructing logical relationships among search terms extend beyond the traditional practice of Boolean searching.

Boolean logic consists of three logical operators:

• OR
• AND
• NOT

Few search engines nowadays offer the option to do full Boolean searching with the use of the Boolean logical operators. It is more common for them to offer simpler methods of constructing search statements, specifically implied Boolean logic and template language.

If you want to construct search queries using Boolean logical operators, you will need to experiment with search engines and see what happens when you search.

The full tutorial can be found here, but if you’re like me, the ability to try something with my own hands teaches me far more than reading about it. And if the experience can be made fun, so much the better. Boolify.com is both fun and instructive.