What is: Boolean?

A Boolean is a means of narrowing or broadening a set of search terms in order to include or exclude the specific results which are produced in a search. Terms like “AND,” “OR”, and “NOT” used along with your topical search allow you to encounter niches of information within a particular subject without having to sift through all of the information that might be beyond your specific area of interest.

In essence, Booleans are binary logic systems that evaluates whether a statement is true or false. They compare the values of AND, OR, and NOT and return a result that is either true or false. Boolean logic was developed by an English mathematician and philosopher by the name of George Boole and is the basis of modern, digital computer logic.

Boolean logic is used to activate circuits as either a charged (1, or true) circuit or a not charged (0, or false) circuit in order to perform certain functions. It is the basic, binary concept upon which all computer processing is based. However, more specifically, it is made use of to narrow searches.

In searches, the Boolean operator AND is used to be inclusive of additional information to the search. The operator OR is made use of to search terms that are similar or which are synonymous with each other. The operator NOT is utilized in order to remove specific instances from the search.

Basically, Boolean operators allow a user to have greater control over what results are returned to them in a search engine search. This saves time if you are really trying to narrow in on a specific topic. It can also help you find certain instances in your search that you can’t specifically nail down and need the extra help of adding additional returns to your search term.

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Jamie Spencer

My name is Jamie Spencer and I have spent the past 10 years building money making blogs. After growing tired of the 9-5, commuting and never seeing my family I decided that I wanted to make some changes and launched my first blog. Since then I have launched lots of successful niche blogs and after selling my survivalist blog I decided to teach other people how to do the same.