BOOLEAN ALGEBRA

DEFINITION
A Boolean algebra B is a bounded, distributive
and complemented lattice.

Let B be a nonempty set with two binary operations + and

, a unary operation  and two distinct elements 0 and 1 .
Then B is called Boolean algebra if the following axioms
hold where a,b,c are any three elements in B:
1. Commutative laws: a + b = b + a and ab=ba
2. Distributive laws: a + (b  c) = (a + b)  (a + c)
a  (b + c) = (a  b) + (a  c)
3. Identity laws: a + 0 = a and a1=a
4. Complement laws : a + a = 1 and aa=0

Boolean algebra is denoted by < B,+,  , ,0,1>

 Let D70={1,2,5,7,10,14,35,70}.
Define +,* and ‘ on D70 by
a+b=lcm(a,b), a  b = gcd(a,b), a´=70/a.
Then D70 is a Boolean algebra with 1 as the
zero element and 70 the unit element.

70

35
14 10

7 5
2

1
Theorem
 Let n=p1p2…pk where pi are distinct
primes. Then Dn is a Boolean Algebra.
 Ex. 40, 66, 75, 210, 646
Example: Let B1 = {0,1} be the set of bits, with the
binary operations + and * and the unary operation ‘
defined by following figures. Then B is a Boolean algebra.
(Note: 1´ = 0, 0´ = 1, 0+1 = 1, 0  1 = 0).
1 + 0 1  0 1
0 0 1 0 0 0
1 1 1 1 0 1
0

Example: Show that a collection of sets closed under the

set operations of union , intersection, and complement is
a Boolean algebra. Also draw hasse diagram.
SUB-BOOLEAN ALGEBRA

Suppose C is a non-empty subset of a

Boolean algebra B. We say C is a sub-
boolean algebra of B if C itself is a
Boolean algebra (w.r.t. the operations of
B). We note that C is a sub-boolean
algebra of B iff C is closed under the
three operations of B, i.e. +, *, and ‘ .
Example. {1,2,35,70} is a
sub-boolean algebra of D70 .
 Isomorphic Boolean Algebras

Two Boolean algebras B and B’ are said to be isomorphic

if there is a one-one correspondence f:BB’ which
preserves the three operations
 b) = f(a) f(b)
i.e. , such that f(a+b) = f(a)+f(b), f(a
and f(a’) = f(a)’ for any elements, a,b in B.
 Observe that the two
70 diagrams are
structurally the same
35
14 10

7 5
2 A

1 {5,7}
{2,7} {2,5}

{7} {5}
{2}


P(A)