Boolean Data Type

15-110 Summer 2010

Margaret Reid-Miller
Boolean values
•  Named after George Boole (1815-1864), who invented
mathematical logic and defined Boolean algebra.
•  A variable of the primitive data type boolean can have two
values: true and false (Boolean literals).
•  Boolean variables are used to indicate whether a condition is
true or not, or to represent two states, such as a light being on
or off.
e.g.,
all lower case
boolean hasLicense;
!boolean isDone = false;!
!boolean isTurnedOn = true;!

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Expressions
•  Up to now we have seen
•  arithmetic expressions that use the operators
+ - * / % ++ --
•  assignment expressions that use the operators
= += -= …
•  Boolean expressions use relational and logical
operators.
•  The result of a Boolean expression is either true or
false.
•  Boolean expressions allow us to write programs that
decide whether to execute some code or not.
•  These decisions changes the flow of the program
execution.
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Relational operators
•  Relational operators compare two arithmetic expressions
and evaluate to a boolean result.

Operator Name
==! equal to

!=! not equal to

<! less than

<=! less than or equal to

>! greater than

>=! greater than or equal to

Careful: Do not confuse the assignment operator =

with the equality operator ==.
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Relational operators
•  The relational operators determine the relative
ordering between values.
•  The relational operators may be use to compare
expressions that evaluate to numeric and char data.
•  These relational operators have lower precedence
than the arithmetic operators.
•  Thus, arithmetic expressions are evaluated first,
then the resulting Boolean expressions.
•  That is, Java does the “math” first, then the
comparison.

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Relational operators
Examples:
int x = 15;!
!int y = 100;!
!System.out.println(x > y);!
!System.out.println(x < 15);!
!System.out.println(x <= 15)!
!System.out.println(x == y);!
!System.out.println(x != 5);!
!System.out.println(x * -y > 0);!
!boolean isBigger = x > y;!

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Logical operators
•  Logical operators combine boolean values and
evaluate to a boolean result.

Operator Name Example Result

!! Logical !a! true if a is false,

NOT false if a is true
&&! Logical a && b! true if both a and b are
AND true, false otherwise
||! Logical OR a || b! true if a or b, or both are
true, false otherwise

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Truth Tables
•  Truth tables list all possible combination of values
for the variables in an expression.

a! b! a && b! a || b! !a!
true! true! true! true! false!
true! false! false! true! false!
false! true! false! true! true!
false! false! false! false! true!

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Logical operators
Example:!

age > 26! hasLicense! (age > 26) && hasLicense!

!15-110 Summer 2010!

!boolean canRentCar = (age > 26) && hasLicense;!

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Logical operators
Example:!

age > 26! hasLicense! (age > 26) && hasLicense!

true! true! true!
true! false! false!
false! true! false!
false! false! false!

!int age = 16;!

!boolean hasLicense = true;!
!boolean canRentCar = (age > 26) && hasLicense;!

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Logical operators
Examples: && is evaluated after relational operators.
int x = 15; ! || is evaluated after &&.!
!!
!int y = 100;!
!System.out.println(x > y && x >= 15);!
!System.out.println(x < 15 || x > 15);!
!System.out.println(x == y && y == 100)!
!System.out.println(x != 5 && x < y);!
!System.out.println(x + y > 100 || y <= 10);!

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Logical operators: Exercise 1
•  It is time to buy a new phone when at least one of the
following situations occurs:
•  the phone breaks
•  the phone is at least 3 years old

int phoneAge; // in years!

Boolean isBroken;!
… // code initializes variables!

boolean needPhone = ___________________________;!

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Logical operators: Exercise 1
•  It is time to buy a new phone when at least one of the
following situations occurs:
•  the phone breaks
•  the phone is at least 3 years old

int phoneAge; // in years!

Boolean isBroken;!
… // code initializes variables!

boolean needPhone = (isBroken == true) !

|| (phoneAge >= 3);!

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Logical Operators: Exercise 2
•  Assume x, y, and z are int variables that have been
initialized.

boolean areAllEqual = _________________________;

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Logical Operators: Exercise 2
•  Assume x, y, and z are int variables that have been
initialized.

boolean areAllEqual = (x == y) && (y == z);!

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Boolean Algebra
•  Double negative: !!a ≡ a!

•  de Morgan’s Law:
!!(a && b) ≡ !a || !b!

!!!(a || b) ≡ !a && !b

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de Morgan’s Law (version 1)
Truth table: Consider all possible combinations of
values of booleans a and b.
!(a && b) == (!a || !b)!

a! b! a && b! !(a && b)! !a! !b! !a || !b!

T T

T F

F T

F F

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de Morgan’s Law (version 1)
Truth table: Consider all possible combinations of
values of booleans a and b.
equal
!(a && b) == (!a || !b)!

a! b! a && b! !(a && b)! !a! !b! !a || !b!

T T T F F F F

T F F T F T T

F T F T T F T

F F F T T T T

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de Morgan’s Law (version 2)
Truth table: Consider all possible combinations of
values of booleans a and b.
!(a || b) == (!a && !b)!

a! b! a || b! !(a || b)! !a! !b! !a && !b!

T T

T F

F T

F F

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de Morgan’s Law (version 2)
Truth table: Consider all possible combinations of
values of booleans a and b.
equal
!(a || b) == (!a && !b)!

a! b! a || b! !(a || b)! !a! !b! !a && !b!

T T T F F F F

T F T F F T F

F T T F T F F

F F F T T T T

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de Morgan’s Law
In Java:
!!((age < 12) || (age >= 65))!

In English: It is not the case that age less than 12 or age greater
than or equal to 65. !!!?

Simplify using de Morgan’s Law:

!(age < 12) && !(age >= 65)!

The reverse the meaning of the relational expressions:

(age >= 12) && (age < 65)

That is, when age is at least 12 and less than 65.

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de Morgan’s Law
In English:
!Words neither rhyme nor alliterate.

In Java:
!wordsRhyme ___ &&! !wordsAlliterate!
Words don’t rhyme and they don’t alliterate

Apply de Morgan’s Law:

!(wordsRhyme || wordsAlliterate)!
!It’s not the case words rhyme or alliterate.

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