Customer Reviews

Boolean Algebra and Its Applications (Dover Books on Mathematics)

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This is by far one of the best math books in the Dover catalogue. While the prose is admittedly dry, the clarity of the exposition is flawless. The author begins his discussion with a chapter on set theory and wisely takes an intuitive appraoch rather than a theoretical one. This makes the second chapter, which gives an axiomatic account of the fundamentals of Boolean algebra, much easier to digest. Once you master the first two chapters, the rest of the books is smooth sailing. From here the author gives detailed, yet succinct, accounts of the applicatons of Boolean algebra to symbolic logic, switching circuits, relay circuits, binary arithmetic, and probability theory. Although the book is aimed primarily at math, computer science, and electrical engineering majors, it accessible to anyone who is comfortable with college level mathematics. It is especially helpful to the philosophy student who wishes to learn about symbolic logic and its applications to the foundations of computer science.

Though written with dry prose, this book is very much worth studying to anyone with an interest in the subject.

Targeted toward math and computer science undergraduates and to a certain extent electrical engineering types, the book progresses like a math course. It gives the greatest emphasis to the key topics (like the title) and builds on the most basic sub-topics. In Boolean Algebra, that sub-topic is Set Theory. Therefore this book requires a level of thinking beyond the ordinary, but once you understand Set Theory, the rest is easy. And to make it easier on the reader, the lessons on Set Theory are totally intuitive, assuming the reader has at least taken algebra.

This book fell to the floor where it was pounced upon and chewed by my nieces 3 pound dog who `forthwith' lost 10 pounds of the nectar of life. We shall be suing Dover for her wrongful death by dehydration. Boolean Algebra is a fine subject but this book ... the most turgid bit of writing since `OG the trog-dude' first scratched a mark on a cave wall.