The influence of Boole's search for a universal method in analysis on the creation of his logic

Luis M. Laita

pp. 45-59

in: James Gasser (ed), A Boole anthology, Berlin, Springer, 2000

Abstract

This paper deals with the influence exerted by Boole's own work on differential equations on his creation of algebraic logic. The main traits of Boole's methodology of logic, and the particular algorithms which he used in his 1847 The Mathematical Analysis of Logic. ore first pointed out. An examination of the mathematical papeis which Boole wrote before the publication of the mentioned logical treatise shows that both the methodology leading to the production of his logic and the algorithms used in its development were repeatedly used by him in his earlier work in analysis.