Boole Turns Logic i nto Algebra
realized that the power of algebra comes from the fact that the symbols
representing quantities and operations obeyed a small number of basic rules
or laws. This implied that this same power could be applied to objects and
operations of the most varied kind so long as they obeyed some of these
same laws.
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In Boole’s early work, he applied algebraic methods to the objects that
mathematicians call operators. These “operate” on expressions of ordi-
nary algebra to form new expressions. Boole was particularly interested in
differential operators, so called because they involve the differentiation op-
eration of the calculus mentioned in the previous chapter.
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These operators
were seen to be of particular importance because