If you are not a mathematician, you may, like me, have thought that the term Boolean logic' was invented for internet searches and the like. Think again. Boolean logic is actually named after George Boole, who devised the system back in the 19th Century, long before the first basic computer was even thought of.

In essence, Boolean logic is about putting different actions' into sets'. When used in web searches, taking the time to develop a Boolean type search can yield excellent results and save lots of time searching through answers.

You should understand that certain search engines accept Boolean searches and some do not. To make matters even more confusing, the WAY in which Boolean searches are written also has a bearing on results.

The basic Boolean indicators are AND, OR and NOT (or AND NOT). Some search engines accept these indicators as such in capital letters. Others prefer the notation + for AND and for NOT (or AND NOT). Yet others prefer ANDNOT written without a space!

Suppose you are looking for a book written by someone who you know is called Shakespeare, but who is not William Shakespeare. If you simply go into Google and type book shakespeare' you will come up with a few hundred thousand responses, with, of course, the most famous Shakespeare at the forefront.

Now try typing: Shakespeare William book. It is most important to include a space after Shakespeare and NOT to insert a space between the minus sign and William. Now look at your results. You will still find items related to William Shakespeare (though under the name Shakespeare) but on or near the first page you will find other items such as Germain Greer's book "Shakespeare's wife" and a biography of Bruce Chatwin by Nicholas Shakespeare.. Much better. You begin to get the idea.

You can build your Boolean query into quite a complex affair. Let's say you are researching breakfast cereal brands. Kellogg's is one of the biggest producers, but you don't want information and advertising from this particular brand. Try this:

breakfast cereal -kellog -kellogg -kellogs -kelloggs -kellogg's -kellog's -kelog -kelogs -kelog's

This search eliminates the trade name Kellogg and just about all the common mis-spellings of it. You'll be amazed at the differences between this search and one just for "breakfast cereals"

Now that you are beginning to get familiar with the concept of Boolean searches, I will let you into a little secret about how to write them

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